Disney’s Hollywood Studios Christmas 2020! Family of 6 Tells All

Disney World is magical any time of year, but Christmastime is a whole other level. Our family of six spent our first day at Hollywood Studios, all decorated for the holidays, then went to Magic Kingdom the next day. Here’s how Disney was handling things when we went, the tips that made our trip easier, and our favorite lands.

What you’ll get from this post

  • What Disney was doing for cleaning and masks when we visited in November 2020
  • What was different: closed attractions, no fireworks and no FastPass
  • How Rider Switch let our kids ride almost everything twice
  • Why you need to see Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge both day and night
  • How we use the Disney World app, and our honest take on bringing little ones

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When we went and where we stayed

We went on November 13 and 14, a Friday and Saturday. In the video, I put our wait times for each ride on screen so you can see what it was like that time of year.

We stayed at an amazing Airbnb with two Disney-themed kids’ rooms, including a Star Wars room. It had its own little private splash pool out back, and it’s part of a larger resort, so we could use that pool too. Highly recommend.

How Disney handled cleaning and masks

Disney World is always really clean, but when we went there were people everywhere wiping down every surface. They were super strict about mask wearing, and there was antibacterial gel all throughout the park. They had a lot of measures in place to keep everybody as germ-free as possible, and we felt really good about it.

What was different when we visited

If you’re thinking about going, check Disney’s website for current changes. When we went:

  • Certain attractions were closed.
  • The one big bummer: no fireworks.
  • There were no FastPasses.

Rider Switch made our trip

With no FastPass, we discovered something pretty amazing called Rider Switch. Here’s how it worked for us:

  1. At the ride entrance, the cast member at the old FastPass scanners scans your card or MagicBand.
  2. One parent takes the kids who can ride. Bud would go with Titus and Maggie.
  3. The other parent waits with the kids who can’t or don’t want to ride. I’d sit out with Finn and Theo.
  4. When Bud came back, I took our cards, and Titus, Maggie and I went through the FastPass line, which was basically empty.

We’d get on almost immediately, so the big kids got to do almost every ride twice without waiting in the long line the second time. That made our trip.

Tower of Terror

We spotted the Tower of Terror as soon as we walked in. One of the kids described it best: you go up, see the window, and then it’s up and down, up, down, down and down.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

Star Wars land is amazing. The details are incredible, and there are sound effects going on all around you. It’s completely immersive.

You’ve got to see it during the day to catch all the details, then go back at night. The way it’s lit up and the sound effects change make it a totally different vibe, and it’s equally cool at night. We also flew a mission where the flight takes you to the planet Corellia to intercept a First Order training shipment, with pilots and gunners at the controls.

Toy Story Land

Everything in Toy Story Land is larger than life, and the kids loved it. The rides are super fun. We rode Slinky Dog, and everyone was so brave.

Then there’s Alien Swirling Saucers. It had no wait, so the kids wanted to go again and again. I’m totally getting old. I used to be able to ride everything all day long, but this year by the afternoon of day one I had a headache, and the spinning saucers did me in. Bud and I were playing rock paper scissors over who’d take them on it the second, third and fourth time.

Use the Disney World app

If you haven’t used the Disney World app in the parks, here’s why I love it:

  • It shows a full map of the park.
  • It lists the wait time above every ride, so you can skip a crazy-long line and hop on one with a ten-minute wait.
  • You can mobile order at the restaurants.

Should you take little kids?

That’s a family-to-family decision. Ours woke up really cranky after their afternoon naps, because they didn’t get as long a nap as usual. It was a little stressful, but it was short-lived. Then they remembered, oh, we’re at Disney World, rode a ride, and all was well again.

Key takeaways

  • Christmas at Hollywood Studios is next-level magical.
  • Use Rider Switch so big kids can ride again without the long line.
  • See Galaxy’s Edge in the daytime and again at night.
  • Toy Story Land rides are a hit; the saucers may do you in.
  • The Disney World app’s wait times and mobile ordering save a lot of hassle.
  • Expect shorter naps and some crankiness with little ones.

What viewers say

So excited for y’all!!! How fun!!!!!

@keeperofmyhome on YouTube

Things we mentioned

Next up is Magic Kingdom at Christmas. Come hang out with our crew on YouTube. Subscribe to The Johnson Crew on YouTube.

FAQ

What is Rider Switch at Disney World?

One parent rides with the kids who can ride while the other waits with the ones who can’t. Then the waiting parent rides with the big kids through a short line, so they get to ride twice.

Is Hollywood Studios good for little kids?

Ours loved Toy Story Land, especially Slinky Dog and the alien saucers. Expect shorter naps and some crankiness, but it passes quickly.

Is the Disney World app worth using?

Yes. It has a park map, wait times for every ride, and mobile ordering for restaurants.

When is the best time to see Galaxy’s Edge?

Both. Go during the day for the details and again at night for the lighting and different sound effects.

More from our crew

Full transcript

Hi friends welcome back if you're new to my channel my name is Sarah and I have four kids and an awesome husband and we just went to disney world is always really clean anyways but they've got people everywhere wiping down every surface super strict about the mask wearing and they've got antibacterial everywhere throughout the park that you can use all the time so I feel like they have a lot of measures in place to keep everybody germ free as best as you can so we felt really good about that I think they're doing a great job with it

And disney world is magical any time of year but christmas time is like whole other level magical so this video is all about hollywood studios that's the park we went to our first day and then we went to magic kingdom which I'm gonna do a whole other video on we stayed at this amazing airbnb I will link it below that was totally disney themed in the kids rooms it was so cool and it had its own little private splash pool was what they call it in the back

And then it's part of a larger resort so we got to go to that pool as well highly recommend so hope you enjoy checking out our trip to disney world and I'll put the wait times that we had for each of the rides on the screen so you can kind of see what it was like this time of year we went november 13th and 14th that was a friday and a saturday so if you enjoyed this video please give it a thumbs up and don't forget to hit subscribe

And hit that little bell so you don't miss the next video which will be all about magic kingdom alright enjoy wow check this one first all right yeah all right there's one more star wars room I'm gonna sleep do bye we are going to disney world oh I see the tower of terror oh what ride are we gonna do how was it were you scared good job there's no smoke thanks mater hello everyone hey boy did you do tower of terror yeah I like fun you get to go up up the right everything fast then you get to see the window

And then go down okay let her down then up and down up down down and then down and up and then down and then down thanks what could possibly go wrong you just want your passion yeah I know exactly what I'm doing was that fun yeah there are definitely some things that they're doing differently right now at disney world so if you're thinking about going definitely check out their website and see some of the changes that they've made for instance there are certain attractions that are closed right

Now the one big bummer is that they're not doing the fireworks right now they're also not doing fast passes right now but we discovered something pretty amazing called rider switch and basically that's where when you get up to where the staff is waiting at the line where they've got the little fastpass machines where you would normally scan your fastpass they'll scan your card or your wristband whatever you have and so basically one parent would take the kids on the ride while the other parents sat out with the kids who can't ride that ride or don't want to ride that ride

And so Bud would go with like titus and maggie and I would sit out with finn and theo and then when they came back I would take our cards and me and titus and maggie would go and scan our cards and we would go through the fastpass line which was basically empty so we would get on the ride almost immediately so the kids basically got to do almost every ride twice without waiting in the super long line that second time so it was amazing so if you've never done that before that like made our trip what'd you get theo first visit first time at disney

Okay star wars land galaxy's edge is amazing like the details that they put into this thing and there's even like sound effects going on all around you it's just completely immersive it's awesome and I must say you've got to see it during the day to see like all the full details and then you also need to go back at night and see it at night time the way they have it lit up and the sound effects kind of change it's just a totally different vibe

And it's equally as cool at night as it is during the day so get back this is good luck to you all you might need it today's flight takes you to the planet corellia you will be intercepting a first order training shipment of coaxial gunners you clear the path pilots line up behind the train hold your stick weapons then we went over to toy story land everything is larger than life the kids of course loved it it was so cool and the rides in there are super fun too yeah it's gonna be awesome oh here we go you ready to ride slinky dog yes are you scared no you're

So brave what did you think crazy so crazy dude I'm totally getting old so old I could ride the kids in the background I could ride all the things all day long and be totally fine this year by the afternoon of the first day I was struggling I had a headache and then the kids wanted to ride the spinning saucers and that did me in yeah but now we're having to play rock paper scissors of who was going to go on the alien saucers with them for like the second third

And fourth time because that ride had no weight I wonder why and they wanted to keep going and going like wow I really wish you guys could ride this by yourself ones I also feel like I need to plug the disney world app if you haven't used that before when you go to the parks it shows you a whole map of the park which is helpful just in general but it also has the wait times listed above every single ride so you can quickly see oh I don't want to go to this one right

Now because it's a crazy long line or let's go hop on this one it only has a 10 minute wait you know stuff like that so that's super helpful and then you can even do mobile ordering for their different restaurants so that's super helpful too I know people wonder should you take little kids and I think that's going to be family to family decision ours definitely woke up really cranky after their afternoon naps because they didn't get as long of one as they normally would

So that was a little bit of a bummer and a little bit stressful but it was short-lived and then they remembered oh we're at disney world and rode a ride and all was well again ah

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