Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios is the smallest of Walt Disney World's four parks, and the one built around two of the resort's biggest draws, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land. It holds the headline thrill rides and some of the most detailed, walk-into theming at the resort, and a day here is shaped around the live shows, the character meets and the two lands as much as around the rides.
On this page
A family verdict at a glance
Fewer rides for the youngest than the other parks, but the strongest line-up of shows.
Hollywood Studios is often called Walt Disney World's most concentrated ride park, and the one built around Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land. That cuts two ways for a family. For older children and adults it holds some of the resort's headline rides. For the youngest it's the hardest of the four, because only two rides have no height limit and the biggest names all set one.
For little ones, most of the day is shows rather than rides. Together they can fill a good part of a day, from a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show pitched at pre-schoolers to a Frozen sing-along. Add those two rides, the character meets and two lands to wander, and there's enough for a satisfying show-led day, especially with mixed ages or across more than one visit.
Come for
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and its full-size Millennium Falcon, Toy Story Land and a run of live shows that fills a young child's day.
Strong for little ones
The show line-up, Toy Story Land as a self-contained world and short-queue character meets.
Fewer rides for the youngest
Under about 97cm it's a show-led day, not a ride day. The headline rides need 102cm or more.
The heat
Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge have the least shade in the park.
Best with mixed ages or more than a day
Visiting Florida once with only very young children? Magic Kingdom has more they can ride.
Where is it?
At Walt Disney World near Orlando, sharing a transport corridor with EPCOT, reached by Skyliner gondola, boat, bus or its own car park.
Quick facts for UK families
The seven lands, and the two you'll spend most time in
A loose spine of themed streets, with Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge at the far end.
The park runs along a loose spine of themed streets. You enter down Hollywood Boulevard, a version of 1930s and 1940s Hollywood that ends at a full-size replica of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, built from the original 1927 blueprints and placed at the end of the street as the landmark that draws you in. It now houses Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, which took the place of the Great Movie Ride, the attraction the park was first built around. By day the boulevard has its own roving performers, the Hollygroove Swingin' swing band and the acrobatic jugglers of The Record Setters, and small jokes hide along the park's streets for anyone who looks, a Mortimer & Co sign that nods to Mickey's original name and a Retlaw Parking that spells Walter backwards. Off the boulevard branch Sunset Boulevard, home to the two biggest thrill rides and the large show theatres, and Echo Lake, a lakeside corner with a Star Wars simulator, a live stunt show and the Frozen sing-along.
The two lands most families come for sit at the far end. Toy Story Land shrinks you to the size of Andy's toys, with oversized building blocks and board games for scenery, three rides pitched at younger children and a squad of Green Army Men who march through on drums. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is Disney's Star Wars land, built as a worn trading port on the planet Batuu, with a full-size Millennium Falcon parked in the middle, droids rolling by and Stormtroopers on patrol. Even children who've never seen Star Wars tend to respond to the scale of it, and much of the land works for a child too small to ride: the full-size Falcon is a photo spot in its own right, the free Play Disney Parks Datapad turns a phone into a Star Wars gadget for translating signs and scanning panels, which button-loving toddlers take to, and the Creature Stall sells adoptable porg and Loth-cat plush that younger children gravitate to.
Two build experiences in the land give an older sibling something to do while a toddler can't ride. At Droid Depot children assemble a custom astromech droid from parts moving along a conveyor, then take home a remote-controllable droid that reacts to things around the land; it's recommended from about three, and a three or four-year-old can join in with a hand from an adult. Savi's Workshop, where you build a custom lightsaber in a short ceremony, sets a minimum age of five and really engages children of about ten and up, since younger ones struggle to see over the build bench. Both need one person aged fourteen or over in the party, and a toddler waiting through someone else's twenty-minute lightsaber ceremony tends to get restless, so they suit a family happy to split up by age more than one moving round together.
Newer corners and one building siteThe Walt Disney Studios Lot, and the works next door
The Walt Disney Studios Lot is the newest area, and the one that matters most for the youngest. Modelled on Disney's real animation studios in California, it carries a small Sorcerer Mickey hat on one of its buildings, a nod to the giant hat that stood over the park until 2015. It gathers the two shows pitched at small children, the Baby Care Centre and a walk-through of Walt Disney's life, and a new indoor playground for babies and young children, the first at any Walt Disney World park, is opening here too. One corner of the park is walled off for a new Monsters, Inc. land, under construction behind hoardings on the old Muppets courtyard. It sits away from the Toy Story Land, Echo Lake and Sunset Boulevard areas a family with young children actually uses, so the disruption is easy to walk around.
The rides, and which ones little ones can go on
Two rides suit any age. Above them the height limits climb quickly.
Planning a day here with young children starts from which rides they can actually go on. Of the rides here, only two have no height requirement: Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, a trackless indoor ride that drops you inside a Mickey cartoon in the Chinese Theatre, and Toy Story Mania, an indoor 3D shooting game where a spinning tram carries you between carnival screens. They're two of the most popular family rides at Walt Disney World, so a young child isn't stuck on rides the rest of the group finds too babyish. One more, Alien Swirling Saucers in Toy Story Land, opens up at 81cm, which most children of about two and a half or three reach. It's a slow outdoor spinner, milder than a fairground teacup though it whips a little more than it looks.
Above that the required heights go up. Slinky Dog Dash, a family coaster with small hills and no drops, is widely rated the best first coaster at the resort and needs 97cm, so it suits an adventurous three-year-old who reaches it. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, the Falcon cockpit simulator, also sets 97cm, and it splits its crew across separate seats, so you can't hold a nervous young child during it. Star Tours, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and the Tower of Terror all need 102cm, and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster needs 122cm, which is beyond all but the tallest older children.
Height isn't the only thing to weigh. Four of these rides can frighten a sensitive child even once they're tall enough. The Tower of Terror pairs sudden drops with a haunted-hotel build-up, a ruined hotel where five guests are said to have vanished from a lift during a lightning storm in 1939, and that theming unsettles a lot of children on its own. Rise of the Resistance runs 18 minutes through darkness, weapons and battle noise. Star Tours throws the cabin around with 3D combat on the screen. Rock 'n' Roller Coaster is a launched coaster with inversions in the dark. A child who already loves Star Wars is more likely to take a familiar ride in their stride, while one who doesn't know it may find the same ride too much, so judge the child rather than the height alone.
Measure at home firstHeight limits at a glance
If your child is close to a limit, it's worth measuring at home before you build hopes around a ride, since the limits are firm and taken barefoot with no tiptoes. UK parents used to centimetres often misjudge the inches, so the figures below lead with centimetres.
| Ride | Land | Height | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway | Hollywood Boulevard | No limit | A trackless indoor ride through a Mickey cartoon. No drops or fast motion, though loud and busy in places. |
| Toy Story Mania! | Toy Story Land | No limit | An indoor 3D shooting game on a spinning tram. Suits any age, with an air-conditioned queue. |
| Alien Swirling Saucers | Toy Story Land | 81cm (32in) | An outdoor spinner, and the lowest limit in the park. Most children of about two and a half reach it. |
| Slinky Dog Dash | Toy Story Land | 97cm (38in) | A family roller coaster with small hills and no drops, often called the best first coaster at the resort. |
| Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run | Galaxy's Edge | 97cm (38in) | A Star Wars cockpit simulator. Moderate motion and jolts, and riders sit apart, so you can't hold a young child. |
| Star Tours | Echo Lake | 102cm (40in) | A Star Wars motion simulator. Dark, jerky and loud, with a real motion-sickness risk. |
| Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance | Galaxy's Edge | 102cm (40in) | An 18-minute ride through a Star Destroyer. Long, dark and intense, with a short drop. |
| The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror | Sunset Boulevard | 102cm (40in) | A drop ride inside a haunted hotel, and one of the most frightening rides at the resort. |
| Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets | Sunset Boulevard | 122cm (48in) | The most intense coaster at the resort: a fast launch, inversions and darkness. Out of reach for essentially all young children. |
Riding the big rides in shifts
If one of you wants to ride the Tower of Terror, Rise of the Resistance, Slinky Dog Dash or one of the others while the other stays with a child who's too small, you don't both have to queue. Rider Switch (also called Rider Swap) lets both adults ride on one wait: one rides while the other waits with the child, then you swap and the second boards through the Lightning Lane without going back to the start. It works on all the rides that set a height limit, and it doesn't use up a paid Lightning Lane pass, so with a bit of turn-taking both parents can ride everything the youngest can't.
Paying to skip the queuesLightning Lane at this park
Lightning Lane is Disney's paid queue-skip, and how you buy it and what it costs sit in the tickets and passes guide. What's specific to this park is how the rides are split: the Multi Pass lets you hold one ride from a top tier and two from a second tier at a time, while Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance sits outside it as a separate single-ride pass. The tiers move around from time to time, so the app on the day is the authority. With young children the pass is most useful once someone clears 97cm, and the ride to spend it on then is Slinky Dog Dash, which has the longest queue in the park and runs in full sun.
The shows are the strongest of the four parks
Enough of them to fill a good part of the day, a clubhouse show for pre-schoolers and a Frozen sing-along among them.
For families with young children the shows fill as much of the day as the rides do. Every one is free with admission, needs no height and, with one exception, is air-conditioned, so they double as the way to cool down. The one pitched squarely at pre-schoolers is Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live!, a short call-and-response show where children are meant to move, clap and sing rather than sit still, and children who know Mickey Mouse Clubhouse from home tend to love it. For the First Time in Forever, the Frozen sing-along, runs in a large air-conditioned theatre with on-screen lyrics, Anna and Elsa appearing live and a snow flurry at the end, and it's the most reliable place to escape the midday heat.
The Little Mermaid, a live show with puppetry, is a good one for children who know the film, though the Ursula scenes can be dark for the very youngest, so it suits about three and up. Beauty and the Beast condenses the film into 25 minutes of familiar songs; its theatre is covered but outdoors and not air-conditioned, so an early or evening show is far more comfortable than one in the middle of a summer day. Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After is a short, comedic villain show, more a cool break than a highlight for a small child. The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular is a loud live stunt show with gunshots and pyrotechnics that can frighten a noise-sensitive child, so sit near the back and bring ear defenders if that's a worry, or skip it.
In the street and after darkStreet shows and the evening
Out in Toy Story Land, the Green Army Drum Corps march through with a loud, high-energy drum routine and games children can join. It's one of the best free things here for little ones, though it's loud enough that a noise-sensitive child is better stood a little back. After dark the park's big night show, Fantasmic!, plays out on water with fire, projections and Disney villains. It's impressive, but it's loud, runs to around 9pm and is full of villain and fire scenes, so it runs past most young children's bedtimes and can overwhelm a tired toddler. If you want to try it, the Fantasmic! Dining Package, a meal that comes with a reserved seat, is the practical way in, and even then judge whether your child has the stamina. A shorter, fireworks-free show to end the day plays most evenings on the Chinese Theatre itself: Wonderful World of Animation, a twelve-minute projection show that travels through decades of Disney and Pixar films, with an easy walk out, though the soundtrack is still loud for a noise-sensitive child.
Meeting the characters
Fewer meets than Magic Kingdom, but shorter lines and several strong ones for young children.
Mickey and Minnie meet indoors at Red Carpet Dreams, in separate rooms off one queue, so you see both back to back in the air conditioning. The most relevant for a small child who loves Toy Story is Meet the Toys in Toy Story Land, where Woody and Jessie appear together and Buzz nearby, though it's outdoors and called off in rain. Olaf meets indoors at Celebrity Spotlight and Ariel at the Walt Disney Presents gallery, with Edna Mode and rotating Pixar characters over at Pixar Plaza. In Galaxy's Edge the Star Wars characters, Chewbacca, BB-8, Rey, Stormtroopers and Kylo Ren, roam in character rather than holding photo lines, which is striking to watch, though Kylo Ren or Darth Vader can frighten a very young child. A new character hub with a wider line-up is opening in the Walt Disney Studios Lot. Spots and times move about, so check My Disney Experience on the day.
A meal with the charactersCharacter dining at Hollywood & Vine
For a calmer way to meet characters than a queue, Hollywood & Vine at Echo Lake is the park's character buffet, at breakfast, lunch and dinner. The current line-up is Minnie and friends in seasonal costumes, though who appears rotates through the year, so check the app for the day. The buffet format suits children who'd rather choose their own food, and you get proper time at the table rather than a quick hello. It's one of the pricier meals in the park and it books up around two months ahead in busy periods, so reserve early if it's the experience you want most.
Where to eat, and how to keep it easy
From quick counters to themed sit-down restaurants, with app ordering to skip the lunch queue.
Counter service and snacks
Most families live off the counter-service places, which are all walk-up with no booking, and the single most useful habit is Mobile Order on the My Disney Experience app: order while you walk, pick a time, tap when you arrive and collect from the window, so you're not queuing with a hungry child and a pushchair. Woody's Lunch Box in Toy Story Land does grilled cheese, toasties and totchos, which are tater-tot nachos, and has covered shade seating; Docking Bay 7 in Galaxy's Edge has themed dishes with a plain mac and cheese for less adventurous eaters; and ABC Commissary and Backlot Express serve standard burgers and chicken with large air-conditioned seating, the easy fallback for a child who won't touch themed food. Sunset Boulevard has a cluster of quick spots too, including pizza by the slice and Mickey waffles. High chairs are available.
A few snacks are worth going out of your way for. The Ronto Wrap at Ronto Roasters in Galaxy's Edge is a roast-pork wrap often rated one of the best quick bites at the resort, the Trolley Car Café on Hollywood Boulevard is the park's Starbucks and does a Disney-only carrot cake cookie, and in Galaxy's Edge Kat Saka's Kettle sells a sweet-and-spicy popcorn while the Milk Stand does the blue and green milk from the films, a non-dairy frozen drink that's more a novelty than a meal, so order the plain version for a child since the adult one can have a spirit added.
Book these before the daySit-down restaurants
The sit-down restaurants work differently: nearly all need a reservation, usually made weeks ahead, and rarely take a walk-up, so pick the one you want before the day and book it. The two most fun for young children are themed rather than smart. At the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater you sit in a 1950s convertible facing a drive-in screen of old sci-fi clips, which children love, though the dark room can confuse the very youngest and a car booth is tight with a pram. At 50's Prime Time Café the servers play your family and tease you about your table manners, fun for a child who gets the joke and unsettling for one who doesn't. Roundup Rodeo BBQ in Toy Story Land is family-style barbecue you share around the table, indoor and easy with toddlers, though it isn't a character meal. The Hollywood Brown Derby is the grown-up option.
Two spots are really for the adults. Oga's Cantina is a Star Wars bar rather than a restaurant, standing-room, loud and usually needing a booking, one that families with an unsettled toddler often find more stressful than fun. Quieter is BaseLine Tap House over on Grand Avenue, a small craft-beer and wine bar with indoor air conditioning, charcuterie boards and no need to book, one of the calmer corners for a parent to draw breath while the other takes a turn with the children.
Baby care, and getting around with little ones
Where to feed and change a baby, what to do about a pushchair and how to handle the heat.
The Baby Care Centre is in the Walt Disney Studios Lot, deeper into the park than at some of the other parks, but next to the shows and character spots the youngest use most. It has private nursing stations, changing tables, a kitchen area with bottle warmers and hot and cold water, high chairs and a small shaded courtyard outside where a pushchair can wait and a restless toddler can move without being in the crowds. It sells nappies, formula, wipes, baby food and over-the-counter medicines at park prices, though US nappy brands differ from home and sensitive skin can react to a change, so bring your own. First Aid, run by nurses, is a separate spot near the entrance and can keep medicine cold for the day; the nearest urgent care is off-site and can be reached with help from First Aid or your hotel, and 911 is the US emergency number, the equivalent of 999.
Waiting out of the queueDisability Access Service
Disability Access Service, or DAS, lets a guest who can't wait in a standard queue reserve a return time, wait away from the line and board through the Lightning Lane when the time comes. Disney narrowed it over 2024 and 2025, so it's now meant for guests with a developmental or cognitive disability, autism among them, whose condition stops them managing a conventional queue, rather than for a physical or mobility need on its own. You register through a video chat with Disney up to sixty days before you travel, with the guest present, or at Guest Relations once you arrive, and the person requesting it has to be eighteen or over. The rules changed more than once through 2025 and 2026 and are still moving, so a family who'll rely on it should read the current eligibility on Disney's own accessibility pages when they book rather than trust an older summary. A show-led day for a young child joins far fewer ride queues than a day at Magic Kingdom, so the call on the queues you can't face is a smaller one at this park.
Small things that helpPackage pickup, lockers and a lost-child point
A few services take the friction out of a day with young children. If you buy something you'd rather not carry round with a pushchair, Package Pickup holds it near the entrance for later the same day, and if you're staying at a Disney hotel you can have it sent to your resort instead and collect it the next morning. If a child gets separated from you, cast members take a found child to Guest Relations or the Baby Care Centre, so those are the places to head for. Lockers are for hire at Oscar's Super Service by the entrance if you'd rather not carry spare layers and supplies all day. Baby formula and baby food go through the bag check at security without any restriction, so a UK family flying in with a supply doesn't have to worry about it being turned away.
Prams and pushchairsPushchairs in the park
You can hire a pushchair just inside the entrance at Oscar's Super Service, but Disney's are hard plastic and don't recline, so a child can't nap in one without slumping, and most families either bring their own or use a rental company that delivers a reclining buggy to their hotel. Bringing your own is fine within Disney's size limits, no wider than 79cm and no longer than 132cm, and wagons aren't allowed. Pushchairs can't go into ride queues or most shows, and there's parking by each attraction, though the Toy Story Land parking fills up by mid-morning. How you travel to the park matters. The Skyliner gondola and the Friendship boats both take a buggy unfolded, while the buses need it folded, which is the awkward one with a sleeping child. If you're staying at one of the EPCOT-area hotels, the BoardWalk, Beach Club, Yacht Club, Swan or Dolphin, there's also a flat paved path with no roads to cross, about twenty to twenty-five minutes on foot, often quicker than the boat and a good place to walk a tired child to sleep on a midday return.
The hottest park to walkHeat, shade and a midday rest
This is the hottest of the four parks to get around with a young child, because Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge have little shade and dark paving that holds the heat. The air-conditioned shows are the main way to cool down, so it pays to save them for the hottest hours around the middle of the day and do the two exposed lands early or after about four o'clock. Iced water is free at any food counter, and there's no water-play area to cool off in. Waits on the big rides drop in the evening here, the opposite of Magic Kingdom, so a midday break and a return after five suits a toddler's day. If you're at a Skyliner hotel, a loop on the gondola is a reliable way to get a child to sleep in the pushchair without leaving for the room.
Doing the day with young children
Ride the two that suit any age first, save the shows for the heat and come back cooler after a nap.
Download the My Disney Experience app before you travel, since it runs the map, the wait times, Mobile Order and the show times, and the signal can struggle on busy days. If you're staying at a Disney hotel you get Early Theme Park Entry, half an hour before the park opens to everyone, which is the strongest head start of any of the four parks. Extended Evening Hours, the extra night-time hours for guests at the Deluxe and DVC hotels, run on only a handful of dates here, far fewer than at Magic Kingdom or EPCOT, so they aren't something to plan a day around. With young children, ride Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway first, since its queue gets the longest later, then cross to Toy Story Land for Toy Story Mania and Alien Swirling Saucers while the queues are short, and meet Woody and Jessie.
When to goWhen to visit, and how long you need
The park is open every day of the year, so timing is about crowds and weather rather than opening. Term-time weekdays outside the school holidays are the quietest, which is worth planning around with a toddler. Most families treat Hollywood Studios as a half-day or a single show-led day rather than the anchor of the trip, and pair it with the others. Park hopping opens at 2pm, so a common shape is a morning at another park and an afternoon here, or the reverse, and the hop between here and EPCOT is the easiest at the resort since they share a transport corridor. Summer is hot and humid. Hours shift by season and the park occasionally closes early for a private event, so check the app and the park calendar for your dates.
Through the Christmas season, most evenings the Tower of Terror carries a free projection show, Sunset Seasons Greetings, included with your ticket. The park's Christmas hard-ticket evening is Jollywood Nights, a separate paid event rather than the Magic Kingdom parties, and it runs past midnight, so it runs too late for young children even though the daytime park is dressed for the season.
Loves and gripes
Consistent praise for the shows and two of the rides, consistent complaints about the queues and the heat.
What families praise most is the shows, a full air-conditioned day's worth even when a child can't reach the rides. Runaway Railway and Toy Story Mania come up again and again as good rides in their own right, not just something to keep a toddler busy. Toy Story Land works as a self-contained world for younger children, the Green Army Drum Corps is a free favourite, and the theming of Galaxy's Edge works even for children who've never seen Star Wars. The relocated Baby Care Centre gets singled out too, with several writers rating it the best at the resort.
The steady complaint is queues, concentrated on a few headline rides. Slinky Dog Dash is the one families most often ride at Rider Switch or leave for the evening. Woody's Lunch Box, the park's busiest counter, builds a long line too, which is why Mobile Order comes up so often. The heat is the other, hardest around the middle of the day. Fantasmic! divides families with young children. The fire and water effects are a real draw, but it runs late and loud and past most toddlers' bedtimes.
Questions parents ask
The questions that come up most before a first visit, with the official links at the foot.
Is Hollywood Studios worth a day with a toddler?
For a toddler most families find a half-day is about right. A morning takes in the two rides with no height limit, the Woody and Jessie meet in Toy Story Land and two or three of the indoor shows, which is a full day's worth for a small child on its own before the midday heat. Keep a full day back for a trip that also has older children, who have the Star Wars rides and the Droid Depot and Savi's Workshop builds to fill the rest of it.
Is it too hot to bring a baby in summer?
July and August are hot and humid, but manageable with a baby if you plan around the heat rather than push through it. There's no splash or water-play area anywhere in the park, so the useful kit is a misting fan and a cooling towel, both sold inside, plus free iced water from any food counter. The shadiest walking route is Hollywood Boulevard between Echo Lake and the Chinese Theatre.
Can both parents ride the big rides if we have a toddler?
Yes. Rider Switch means only one of you queues, and the swapping parent can take up to two more people through, so a grandparent or older sibling isn't left waiting.
Do we need to pay for Lightning Lane?
Usually not for the youngest. Children under three get in free, and a paid pass only starts to be worth it once a child is tall enough for the rides it skips, so for a mostly height-limited group it saves the adults a queue more than the child. The exception is Runaway Railway, the one ride a small child can ride that still builds a long wait, so that's where a pass helps them rather than only you. Whether to buy one is a call for your group, and the tickets and passes guide sets out how it works.
Do we need to book the live shows?
No. The shows are all first-come, so you turn up and take a seat, and arriving fifteen to twenty minutes early is usually enough even in the school holidays. The one thing to check each morning is the showtimes in the My Disney Experience app, since the programme is set day by day.
Hollywood Studios photos
The Tower of Terror, Galaxy's Edge, the rides and shows, the food and the Skyliner, all in one place.
Open the Hollywood Studios photo gallery →
Useful links
- Disney's Hollywood Studios: the official park page for attractions, shows, dining and live times.
- Magic Kingdom: our guide to the park with the most for the youngest children.
- Tickets and passes: how tickets, Lightning Lane and UK booking work.
- Walt Disney World with little ones: our guide to the resort, its parks and hotels.
Last updated 8 July 2026.
