Disney’s Hollywood Studios all the time has good days to go to and ones to keep away from, however that might be much more pronounced for the rest of 2024. Halloween and Christmas seasons carry with them a curler coaster of crowds, with dramatic variations in wait instances and attendance in selecting the very best versus worst days to do DHS. This explains why, with lists of the least & most crowded dates in September via December, and a handful of pink flag dates to keep away from in any respect prices.
As with the Greatest & Worst Dates at Magic Kingdom in 2024, Get together Season is the most important issue on this checklist. Get together Season is a giant deal at Walt Disney World as a result of it disrupts attendance dynamics and creates a “porcupine sample” of wait instances and crowd ranges. In a nutshell, each Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Get together push attendance at Magic Kingdom a lot increased on the dates they’re not occurring and decrease on days of the occasions.
That is nothing new–we’ve been banging the Get together Season drum the final decade, at the very least. Magic Kingdom crowd patterns throughout Get together Season are a key dialogue factors of our August via December crowd calendars. Nonetheless, this publish isn’t merely a ‘copy+paste’ of the Magic Kingdom suggestions. On the contrary, our recommendation for Disney’s Hollywood Studios is sort of the reverse of what it’s for Magic Kingdom!
As a reminder, we strongly suggest that readers go to Magic Kingdom in the course of the day on Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Get together nights. In a perfect world, they’d have Park Hopper tickets and bounce to a different park at round 4 pm.
The underlying rationale for that is that many day friends keep away from Magic Kingdom on days when MNSSHP or MVMCP is held at night time as a result of the common park hours are shorter and Fortunately Ever After fireworks should not proven. This ends in considerably lighter crowds on days of the vacation events when Magic Kingdom closes at 6 pm.
These identical friends then flock to non-party days in Magic Kingdom. For guests with out Park Hopper tickets (which is most friends), visiting Magic Kingdom on non-party nights is the plain, intuitive alternative. For a similar admission value, they get a number of extra hours within the park and get to see the fireworks. That’s the reason in a nutshell.
In idea, the dynamic ought to be very comparable with Disney’s Hollywood Studios throughout its personal truncated Get together Season, which is basically simply the Disney Jollywood Nights Christmas Get together. Nonetheless, there are a number of variations.
First, friends who choose to attend Disney’s Hollywood Studios on celebration nights virtually definitely aren’t going to lose as many hours as these doing the identical at Magic Kingdom. The fort park will shut at 10 pm or 11 pm (or typically midnight!) on non-party nights. That quantities to staying an additional 4-5 hours later, seeing fireworks, and attending to benefit from the cooler night hours within the park.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios will shut at 10 pm on the newest (in all probability 9 or 9:30 pm most nights). It additionally possible received’t shut as early to common friends on celebration nights, which means that the quantity of misplaced time on a celebration vs. non-party night time would possibly solely quantity to 90 minutes to three hours. That’s nonetheless a great chunk of time, nevertheless it’s nowhere close to as a lot. And it’s additionally not being taken from the park the place friends wish to spend essentially the most time.
This brings us to the second key level. Disney’s Hollywood Studios actually clears out within the last few hours of the day, whereas Magic Kingdom does to not almost the identical diploma. That is related from the above perspective–friends received’t care as a lot about dropping an hour or two there versus Magic Kingdom–but in addition from a strategic one.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios has the worst wait instances, on common, of any park at Walt Disney World. However these instances peak earlier within the day. Company “hit a wall” and usually tend to bounce earlier within the day than they’re from Magic Kingdom. This creates a pointy distinction in wait instances, that are terrible till late afternoon, after which plummet.
This dynamic is why we’re staunch advocates of a noon break on DHS days, or arriving and staying late to keep away from hitting that wall. Doing DHS on a celebration day means primarily forfeiting that end-of-night slowdown, which received’t occur as a result of celebration mix-in. (In all chance, it additionally means heavier crowds for Fantasmic, particularly with the chance of just one efficiency on celebration nights.)
Lastly, there are merely far fewer celebration dates at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Whereas Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Get together cowl a lot of the calendar from October via December and are held a majority of dates every week throughout their peaks, there are a grand complete of 13 dates for Disney Jollywood Nights. It’s by no means held on greater than two evenings per week.
This alone means are 5 non-party nights per week to soak up the displaced crowds–to the extent they even exist–from Jollywood Nights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Because of this, the distinction in wait instances between celebration days and non-party days at DHS is more likely to be far much less excessive than at Magic Kingdom.
On this notice, there’s additionally the truth that Jollywood Nights isn’t occurring in isolation. That’s apparent since we’re speaking about it in tandem with Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Get together. However the sensible consequence of all that is that individuals might be extra more likely to plan round MVMCP, adopting the intuitive technique there, whereas ignoring Jollywood Nights.
Scheduling round the primary vacation occasion is already numerous work–juggling plans round two totally different events in two parks will merely be an excessive amount of for the typical visitor. They received’t hassle worrying in regards to the DHS occasion and can simply go to once they go to. (If you happen to’re studying this, you might be not the typical visitor.)
With all of that mentioned, you would possibly discover some wiggle phrases within the above. It is a departure from our greatest & worst days to do Magic Kingdom, which expresses a excessive diploma of confidence and calls this the best prediction we make. The distinction, fairly merely, is precedent. This has been occurring at Magic Kingdom year-in and year-out for so long as we’ve been monitoring crowds, so at the very least a decade. In all probability longer.
In contrast, that is solely the second 12 months of Disney Jollywood Nights. The occasion was not significantly well-liked in its inaugural 12 months, which might partly clarify why it had a negligible impression on crowds. The larger motive, although, is that it was primarily an After Hours occasion by one other title, with little or no impression on the working calendar (lower than an hour per night). Day friends thus didn’t “plan round” DJN, since that they had no motive to consider it could impression them. (It did, they only didn’t comprehend it.)
This 12 months, the beginning time of Disney Jollywood Nights is shifting ahead by an hour. We will see whether or not it’s nonetheless the case that individuals don’t plan round DJN with the 7:30 pm begin time. That could be pushing it an excessive amount of and trigger extra disruptions to crowd dynamics a la MNSSHP and MVMCP, however we’re actually skeptical that’ll be the case for the entire causes recognized above.
All of that is exactly why we don’t suggest a zig once they zag suggestion for Disney’s Hollywood Studios like we do with Magic Kingdom. Common friends don’t care as a lot about lacking (much less) time at DHS as they do (extra) time at MK. Attendance received’t be that a lot decrease in the course of the day earlier than events. Displaced crowds received’t be as huge of a deal as a result of there are fewer occasions.
The lack of these quiet nights is the larger deal than the entire above. These slower evenings might be misplaced–we will already say this with a excessive diploma of confidence based mostly on what we noticed final 12 months and on different arduous ticket occasion nights–as a result of mix-in. For these unfamiliar with it, mix-in is the casual time period for the overlap between the common working day and time when friends with tickets to the particular occasion are allowed to enter the park early.
Since these occasions are the one probability many attendees have to go to the respective parks, they arrive as early as doable to cram rides in earlier than the celebration begins. That is why we suggest bouncing from Magic Kingdom at 4 pm on celebration days–as a result of that’s when mix-in begins, and the park will get noticeably busier.
With Disney Jollywood Nights, mix-in will start at 7 pm. As an alternative of wait instances falling within the last two hours of the night like regular, they are going to improve on DJN nights from 7 to 9 pm. It is a huge blow–as that’s usually once we suggest knocking out Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land. On some evenings, it’s doable to do these whole lands within the final two hours of the night time. That won’t be the case on DJN nights.
Consequently, we suggest doing Disney’s Hollywood Studios on non-party days for those who’re spending all day within the park and don’t have Park Hopper tickets. (Extra on the Park Hopping exception within the rationalization beneath.) Now that we’ve defined the why and the way of this, right here’s the checklist of dates to keep away from at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the rest of the 12 months…
When to Keep away from Disney’s Hollywood Studios – Fall 2024
- August 27, 2024
- August 29, 2024
- September 25, 2024
- October 2, 2024
- October 16, 2024
- October 23, 2024
All the dates on the checklist above after After Hours, Prolonged Night Hours, or different particular occasions. The identical logic applies to those events as Disney Jollywood Nights, albeit to a lesser extent. On these evenings, there might be mix-in crowds that end in much less of an finish of the night time slowdown. We’ve additionally noticed ever-so-slightly increased daytime crowds on Prolonged Night Hours dates.
When to Keep away from Disney’s Hollywood Studios – Christmas 2024
- November 9, 2024
- November 13, 2024
- November 16, 2024
- November 18, 2024
- November 23, 2024
- November 25, 2024
- November 30, 2024
- December 2, 2024
- December 7, 2024
- December 11, 2024
- December 14, 2024
- December 18, 2024
- December 21, 2024
As for the greatest days to go to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the low density of events shouldn’t actually disrupt our common Greatest & Worst Days of the Week to Do Each Walt Disney World Park suggestions that a lot.
The one factor I’ll level out is that Jollywood Nights is held on Saturday and Monday nights for many of November. As you’re in all probability (hopefully!) conscious, Sunday is the day in between.
Sunday is generally our favourite day to do DHS. The wait instances knowledge doesn’t totally help this, however we love Sunday nights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios as a result of the vacationers filter like regular–however so too do the locals, and disproportionately so, since Monday is a workday–resulting in decrease precise wait instances within the evenings. Nonetheless, I’d not count on this to be the case throughout November when Jollywood Nights is going on on Saturday and Monday nights. Sunday ought to be at the very least barely worse consequently.
Statistically talking, Wednesdays and Thursday are the very best days to do Disney’s Hollywood Studios. That received’t be true on December 11 or 18, when the park is internet hosting DJN, nevertheless it ought to in any other case stay correct within the months to come back.
One other factor to notice is that the above ‘worst’ lists are relative to the dates inside every week or common date vary.
As a common matter, all dates from August via mid-September are slower than the peak of the vacation season. November and December have excessive highs and low lows based mostly on vacation breaks, however are nonetheless, as a common matter, busier than August and September.
In different phrases, for those who’re an area who has a large open calendar and needs to choose an assortment of dates based mostly upon absolute crowd ranges and nothing else, intention for earlier. One of many August or September dates on our “keep away from” checklist remains to be going to be higher than the Wednesday or Thursday of Thanksgiving or Christmas weeks.
Moreover, Walt Disney World has thrown a monkey wrench into the entire above with the Free Park Hopper Deal. Truthfully, it’s actually tough to evaluate the impression this promo can have. For one factor, there’s been virtually no buzz about it–we haven’t heard from many people who find themselves eligible and plan on taking benefit (largely the other).
In idea, providing free Park Hoppers would normalize crowd ranges to some extent. However I feel it’s simply as possible–if no more so–that this gambit backfires and is counterproductive. It’ll completely redistribute crowds to some extent, however in what route? Free Park Hoppers could not end in increased attendance on early park closing days in any respect. It might as a substitute merely end in heavier crowds on the late nights, as friends leverage Park Hoppers to go to the parks open earliest and newest.
Talking of Park Hoppers, an alternative choice if in case you have one is following the reverse of our technique: beginning at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Jollywood Nights dates, after which bouncing to a special round 6 or 7 pm for the remainder of the night time.
From a sensible perspective, this could be particularly enticing when paired with the zig once they zag technique for Magic Kingdom throughout Get together Season since Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Get together and Disney Jollywood Nights are all the time held on totally different dates. Which means you could possibly begin at Magic Kingdom on a MVMCP day and hop to DHS that night time; then do the other on the Jollywood Nights day.
To be very clear, I’m not suggesting that is an ill-advised technique. It really might be a reasonably good one! The above lists and steerage have been created from the angle of these friends who don’t have Park Hopper tickets, and to clarify why Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a special beast than Magic Kingdom throughout Get together Season.
Finally, that’s why we don’t suggest spending your complete day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Jollywood Nights dates–a departure from our Magic Kingdom zig once they zag recommendation. It’s additionally price reiterating that this dynamic is not going to be as excessive at DHS as it’s at Magic Kingdom. There’s a chasm in wait instances on celebration vs. non-party days there for causes mentioned above. The distinction received’t be almost as stark at DHS. If you happen to can solely comply with our Get together Season recommendation at Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios for no matter motive, achieve this at MK. No doubt.
Once more, Park Hopping provides a special dimension to this, particularly if you pair two MK/DHS half days collectively. That ought to work rather well. As is hopefully now clear, the aim of this publish isn’t actually the checklist of dates. That’s actually only a matter of pulling up the occasions calendar, which you could possibly’ve performed your self in like 30 seconds. Reasonably, it’s serving to you make extra sense of this dynamic, and why Disney’s Hollywood Studios is totally different than Magic Kingdom throughout Get together Season.
As all the time, we favor the “educate an individual to fish” strategy–serving to you perceive the why of Walt Disney World, so you possibly can take the recommendation and apply it to your individual circumstances, trip dates, and so forth. Hopefully this wasn’t too complicated, and also you now have a way of which days might be greatest for you at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in late 2024.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Does this persuade you that you could, from an goal perspective, come out forward by doing non-party days at DHS? Or, are you continue to unpersuaded, favoring the counterintuitive strategy? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we may also help you reply? Listening to your suggestions—even if you disagree with us—is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!