A Timeless Adventure: Disney World's Hollywood Studios, Where Teens Make Vacation Memories!

I should point out that we were in Disney World on THE BUSIEST week of the year. We were there for New Years and then the following weekend was a marathon weekend. On multiple days of our stay, all four parks were at capacity and no longer selling tickets or allowing park hopping. That said, we rode every single ride, and the rides we enjoyed, we rode multiple times.

Hollywood Studios has so many high-interest rides, it was helpful to Rope Drop (be at the park when it opens and get to these rides ASAP). Here was our strategy:

• Rope Drop the Rise of the Resistance and Smugglers Run, in that order. They are in close proximity to each other. My husband and I enjoyed all of the extensive detail in Star Wars Land and loved being able to re-live our Star Wars childhoods. The teens appreciated the interactive nature of Smugglers Run and required us to do it multiple times to improve our score and ranking.

• Purchase Genie+ or lightning lanes for Aerosmith and Tower of Terror or go when other events are happening in the park. The Aerosmith Rockin Roller Coaster was by far their favorite.

• The kids were much more interested in rides than fireworks or shows. On New Years while others were packed into Magic Kingdom and Epcot to ring in the New Year with amazing fireworks displays, our kids opted to skip the fireworks and shows on and hangout in Hollywood Studios, where there was less of the crowd. We were able to do Tower or Terror and Aerosmith multiple times then. In fact, we got on Rocking Roller Coaster in 2023 and got off it in 2024!

• Mickey's runaway railway and Slinky dog were rides that we rope dropped on another day. These are unique to WDW, so they were a high priority.

• Get and use the Photo Pass. When we booked our trip, our package included the photopass. This was so fun!!! Not only was I not worried about trying to take pictures all of the time, but it was also great that all of the ride photos were included. We didn't have to stop and look for our photo at the end of the ride and think about purchasing it. Also, there are Cast Members stationed all over the park with cameras ready to take your picture. We were able to get fun family shots without having to trouble strangers.

Eating at the Park

Here are a couple pro-tips for eating at Disney World!

• Make your dining reservations as soon as you can. You are able to make reservations 60 days prior to the first day of your stay. If there is anywhere you THINK you might want to dine, book it at that time. It's much easier to cancel a reservation than it is to find one later.

• My husband and I put sandwich and gallon-size zip-lock bags in our backpacks. We found that anytime we ordered food, the snacks and portions were much more than we could consume at one time. However, instead of throwing it away, we could put the leftovers in the Ziplock backs to enjoy later. This not only saved us money on additional snacks later, it saved us time since we didn't have to stop for another treat.

• Many resort hotels do not have microwaves in their rooms. I asked about this at the front desk, and they supplied me with one to have in our room for the length of our stay. This is a courtesy most of the hotels offer, but many are unaware of. This came in handy when reheating leftovers from our park meals.

• Mobile order! This was a huge time saver. When we weren't ready to slow down to eat and wanted to keep moving, we found restaurants close by that had mobile ordering. We would put our order in while in line for a ride and when we got off, we would pick it up.

• Each park has only one location that serves Starbucks coffee drinks. In Hollywood studios, this is at the Trolley Car Cafe. Disney doesn't have a big Starbucks sign out front; the store is themed to match the area. Our teens required that this be our first stop each morning. They could order their familiar beverage of choice and also grab a bite to eat. We could not mobile order through our Starbucks app, but we were able to pay with the app or our Magic Bands.

• Oga's Cantina was AMAZING. There isn't really food to speak of on the menu, and the drinks are pre-made and really sweet, but to be in the Star Wars Cantina was a highlight. While our teens are not nearly as excited about Star Wars as my husband and I are, they enjoyed the novelty of the atmosphere and the drinks.

• Sci-Fi Drive-in had a fun theme and some of the best milkshakes we have ever had. We sat in a "car" alongside other diners and ordered burgers, fries and shakes, while a black-and-white sci-fi movie played on the screen. It was a unique experience, but at the end of the day it was a burger and fries. There were five of us in our group, and we found it rather difficult to converse across the car due to the nature of the seating.

• Our teens are not into character dining like they used to be, so these were not a priority. We did end up doing a character dining experience at Artist Point. This is not in any of the parks, but rather in Wilderness Lodge. They enjoyed this as the food was more mature, and the character interactions didn't seem very kiddish.