This is the question we get asked most often by our friends who are visiting for the first time. The answer depends completely on how much you want to do and how long you want your days to be. If you want to do all the rides and shows, meet all the characters etc, our general rule of thumb is you can do everything in around 2-3 days. Due to the number of popular attractions here, anything less than 2 days means you’ll likely have to skip some things (unless you have Lightning Lane access to skip some of the long queues). It all depends on what you want to take in.

Hollywood Studios does offer a few special events during the year, primarily around Christmas when the ‘Jollywood Nights’ events are held. This is a separate ticketed event with extra Christmas-themed entertainment like shows, character meets, merch, snacks and a nighttime spectacular. Throughout the rest of the year if you’re a DVC member look out for the special DVC Moonlight Magic events that occur here and there. If not, there’s the Disney After Hours events which again are ticketed events where you can stay late in the park with reduced crowds.

If you’re lucky enough to have Lightning Lane access, this is the park to really make it work for you. Hollywood Studios has many very popular attractions that regularly attract long queues, so put your access to work. In no particular order we would recommend focussing on; Rise of the Resistance, Smuggler’s Run, Slinky Dog Dash, Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror, Rock n’ Roller Coaster and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Structure your day around passes for some of these and enjoy the quieter attractions and shows the rest of the day.

Upon entering the park you’re immediately in a small square where you’ll find shops and stroller rental. This is the start of Hollywood Boulevard, and probably the most ‘Hollywood’ themed area remaining in the park. Lining the street are more shops, leading you all the way up to the Chinese Theatre in the centre of the park.

This is the central ‘hub’ and where you can enjoy the nightly projection show ‘Disney Movie Magic’. It’s also where you can find the first major attraction - Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. A high tech family ride, one of the most recent additions to the park, this is not to be missed and is loads of fun.

Character-wise this used to be the place to be, with loads of characters waiting to greet you every morning. These days there are very few that appear with Chip & Dale being the only character meet here - although technically this is more in Echo Lake.

In terms of dining there is one good option here - the Hollywood Brown Derby - themed after the golden age of Hollywood, this is classed as signature or fine dining.

Immediately to the left of Hollywood Boulevard is the area known as Echo Lake. This land is dominated by a lake featuring a giant dinosaur (not sure why!), otherwise known as Gertie, with a couple of attractions and restaurants around it.

The Star Tours attraction is technically part of this land and so is the only real ‘ride’ here. It’s an oldy but a classic simulator ride through the Star Wars universe and is constantly being reimagined with new stories and scenes so no ride is ever/rarely the same as the last. It can sometimes attract decent sized queues but it often subsides.

Echo Lake is home to 3 decent shows you can enjoy and these are great for taking in during busy parts of the day when queues on the headline rides are longest. The first is the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular - a fantastic stunt show in a large amphitheatre. The second is the Frozen Singalong Celebration - another good one for fans of the movies where you can singalong to the most popular songs and the historians who narrate the show are hilarious. The final ‘show’ is more a movie, ‘Vacation Fun’ - an animated Mickey & Minnie short. It’s fun, but by no means a must do.

The other listed ‘attraction’ here is a character meet with Olaf, who has permanent residency at the Celebrity Spotlight theatre. Chip & Dale, Donald & Daisy can also sometimes be spotted here.

Echo Lake is probably the best area to focus on for lunch or dinner, with a number of good options. Firstly there’s Hollywood & Vine which does a great character meal where you can book a package giving you priority access to the evening Fantasmic show. There are a couple of different character meals on offer - a Disney Junior version (Doc McStuffins, Fancy Nancy, Vampirina etc) or a Minnie & Friends version (Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Pluto).

As well as this there’s 50s Prime Time Cafe, Backlot Express (one of our favourites for some tenders and fries), Dockside Diner, Oasis Canteen and Epic Eats. So overall you should find something to your tastes here.

These are two mini areas filling in the land between Echo Lake and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, there’s not currently a great deal in these ‘lands’.

Commissary Lane, made to look like a studio backlot, is home to a Mickey & Minnie meet, the main one in the park which can get some pretty high wait times as the day goes on. It also has a few dining options with ABC Commissary and Sci-Fi Dine-in Theatre restaurant. The latter being set out like an old drive in, where you dine in mock cars with old movie clips running on screen.

Grand Avenue is in a state of flux at the moment, with it being reimagined completely. Currently resembling a New York street scene, with the Muppets courtyard off to the left this will be slowly closing over the summer as it makes way for a new Monsters Inc themed land featuring a suspended coaster inspired by the movie’s door vault scene (VERY EXCITING!).

For the time being you can still enjoy Muppet Vision 3D, a fun 3D movie that we really enjoy and provides a chance to sit down and enjoy some air conditioning. There’s a couple of dining options too with Pizza Rizzo and Mama Melrose’s Restaurant Italiano, but both will be closing soon.

There is sometimes a good character meet here though as you pass through to Galaxy’s Edge - look out for Max and Goofy and sometimes Donald and Daisy.

The newest area of the park, and one of the most popular, the ‘new’ Star Wars land is themed to be the outpost of Batuu and the theming here really is next level. You do honestly feel like you’ve entered the Star Wars universe.

There are two headline attractions here - the first is Rise of Resistance, perhaps the most popular attraction in the park, so queues can be hefty here. It is warranted though as it’s a fantastic multi-experience attraction with a ‘pre-show’ followed by a ride through a spaceship on a trackless vehicle - it’s not to be missed.

The second is Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. Also a great ride and also pretty popular, this is fairly similar to Star Tours in that it’s basically a simulator. The only difference being this is next level as you ‘fly’ the Millennium Falcon yourselves as a team and can interact to carry out your assigned tasks.

There are loads of little character interactions/shows which happen throughout the day and you can often see Storm Troopers wandering around, or sometimes the Mandalorian, Rey or Kylo Ren. For the more official character meets though head over to the Animation Courtyard.

For dining, Ronto Roasters, Docking Bay 7, Kat Saka’s Kettle all have options. Oga’s Cantina is very popular and the theming in this bar is amazing, but it’s very hard to get in and so feels very crammed and busy. Still the themed drinks are amazing, and don’t miss the Milk Stand outside, where you can get the popular Blue Milk and the slightly less popular Green Milk.

Our favourite land in the park, and one of the most popular, Toy Story Land is simply amazing. Themed as though you’ve been shrunk down to the size of a toy, this is a child’s heaven, with three brilliant rides to enjoy.

The first and busiest is Slinky Dog Dash - this family coaster is loads of fun and attracts the queues to match. The second, and ride which pre-dates the land, is Toy Story Midway Mania. This is one of our favourite rides in the park. Every time you ride you have so much fun, which is the reason why it attracts such long queues after all these years. The premise of the ride is that you’re whizzed through various Toy Story themed midway attractions where you play to earn points and compete against each other. Do not miss this.

The third attraction is Alien Swirling Saucers - a kind of modern take on the classic teacups ride, themed around the little green aliens. The whip you get on this ride makes it lots of fun so it’s one we always make sure to fit in.

As you’d expect there are several good character meets here - Woody, Jessie and Buzz regularly appear and the green army men often parade through the land during the day.

Until fairly recently the only dining option was the quick service Woody’s Lunch Box. However in the past few years Roundup Rodeo BBQ has been added which is a brilliant sit-down barbeque restaurant, with the classic Toy Story theming.

Something of a mish-mash of an area these days, you can find a number of attractions and character meets here.

The first you’ll find on the way from Toy Story Land is Walt Disney Presents. This is a mini-museum briefly covering the history of Disney with some interesting exhibits as well as a little movie at the end. The last area is also home to a rotating character meet which changes every so often. Over the years we’ve met Moana, Star Lord & Groot and Mike & Sully here. Check the app for the latest characters but at the time of writing Ariel was meeting here.

Outside of here is the old Pixar Plaza area, again previously a hub for characters meets. You can sometimes spot characters from The Incredibles, Monsters Inc and Inside Out here.

Moving on to the actual courtyard, this currently has the Star Wars Launch Bay where you can find artifacts from the movies and meet some of your favourite characters, and the Disney Junior Play & Dance show. Our kids LOVED this when they were younger - a really fun mix of different Disney Junior characters and songs. You can also meet the characters outside like Doc McStuffins, Fancy Nancy, Vampirina etc.

Opening soon is a revamped “The Little Mermaid - A Musical Adventure” show, located in the theatre in the courtyard.

Your only dining options here are snacks and drinks so plan on a meal elsewhere.

Located immediately to the right of Hollywood Boulevard, this is another area which still retains it’s original ‘Hollywood’ theming. Much of the Boulevard is lined with shops and the Sunset Ranch Market which is a good quick service option for lunch or dinner. The attractions are located down the far end of the boulevard and include some of the best in the park.

The first, and one of our favourites, is the Tower of Terror - a thrill drop ride themed around an old haunted hotel. A classic Disney attraction and one not to miss if you love thrill rides.

The second is Rock n’ Roller Coaster - another thrill ride. This indoor coaster includes high speeds and inversions, all while rock music blasts. This is currently hosted by Aerosmith but is due to be reimagined to be Muppet themed which we’re really excited for.

As well as these two thrill rides, there are also a couple of shows to attract a younger audience. The first is the Beauty and the Beast stage show - a fun show telling the classic Disney story. The second is currently closed - previously the Lightening McQueen Racing Academy show, this has now closed as is being turned into a new Villain’s themed show slated to open later this year.

You don’t normally see many characters in this corner of the park, although we have spotted Max & Goofy here on occasion.

Technically part of the Sunset Boulevard area, but deserving of its own special mention, this evening show is not to be missed. It takes place in its own special massive amphitheatre around a central stage with a moat. It includes a host of amazing effects, songs and a tonne of Disney characters.

This is always one of our favourite things to do and one of the best nighttime events to enjoy at Walt Disney World.