Ride Ready Guide Independent & unofficial

Disney's Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Boulevard

The entrance street, running from the turnstiles to a full-scale replica of the Chinese Theatre at the far end.

  • Opened1989
  • Attractions7
  • Places to eat3
  • HeadlinerMickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway

Hollywood Boulevard is the park's main entry corridor, built as an idealized 1930s and 1940s Los Angeles street with storefronts, a working art deco facade set and the Chinese Theatre closing the view at the end. It is the only part of the park that still commits fully to the original film-industry concept, and it is where the improv street performers work.

Almost everything on the street is retail. The single attraction is Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, which occupies the Chinese Theatre where The Great Movie Ride ran from 1989 to 2017. That ride has no height requirement, which makes this the most useful land in the park for a family with a small child.

At night the theater facade becomes a projection surface for the park's animation and live-action projection shows. Because the boulevard is where everyone is already walking out, watching from here costs you almost nothing in touring time, which is the opposite of the deal Fantasmic offers.

Practically, this is also the street you will walk five or six times in a day. The east side has awnings and shade from mid-afternoon; the west side does not. That is worth knowing by hour four.

Do not miss

  • Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway inside the Chinese Theatre, with no height requirement
  • The Citizens of Hollywood street improv troupe
  • Original cement handprints and footprints in the theater forecourt
  • The Hollywood Brown Derby, the park's only fine dining room
  • Nighttime projection shows on the theater facade

Hollywood Boulevard tips

  • Mobile order coffee from the Trolley Car Cafe while you are still in the rope drop crowd; the morning line here is among the worst in the park.
  • The Brown Derby's outdoor lounge takes walk-ups and serves the Cobb salad and grapefruit cake, which is the cheap way into that kitchen.
  • Walk the forecourt handprints on your way out rather than on your way in, when the crowd flow is against you.
  • The scheduled street performer sets are listed under entertainment in the app, not under attractions, which is why most guests never find them.

Attractions in Hollywood Boulevard

Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway

Any height

Dark ride · 5 min · Multi Pass

A trackless dark ride behind the Chinese Theatre screen that turns a Mickey cartoon into eight rooms of gags, with no height requirement.

This is the ride that replaced The Great Movie Ride inside the Chinese Theatre in 2020, and it is the single best attraction in the park for a family that includes somebody under 38 inches. The premise is simple: you walk into a movie theater to watch a new Mickey Mouse cartoon, the screen turns out to be a doorway, and you spend five minutes inside the cartoon aboard a runaway train car driven by Goofy.

Tips for Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway
  • The queue splits into two lines just past the poster lobby. Neither is faster, but the right-hand side loads the cars with the better view of the waterfall room.
  • This ride absorbs an enormous number of people per hour, so a posted 45-minute wait usually resolves in about 30. Do not burn a Lightning Lane Multi Pass here unless the board says 60 or more.
  • It is one of the very few attractions at this park with no height requirement, which makes it the natural rider-switch-free option while your group splits for Tower of Terror.
  • Waits collapse in the last hour of the night because everyone is at Fantasmic or heading to the exit. Riding at close is the single easiest win in the park.
  • There is no on-ride photo, so you can hold a toddler on your lap for the whole ride without worrying about a camera catching a bad moment.

Full guide to Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway →

Citizens of Hollywood

Any height

Show · 15 min

Roaming improv performers playing 1940s Hollywood hopefuls, doing short street scenes up and down Hollywood Boulevard through the day.

A troupe of improvisers works Hollywood Boulevard in character as a fixed cast of Hollywood types: a public works crew, a starlet, a talent agent, a director, a security officer. They perform short scenes on the street, mostly unannounced, and they are the reason the front of this park has a personality that the entrance plazas of the other three Florida parks do not.

Tips for Citizens of Hollywood
  • The scheduled group sets are listed in the app under entertainment, not under attractions. Most people never look there and never see them.
  • The performers are in character before and after the set. If you talk to the talent agent on the sidewalk you will get a two-minute private scene for free.
  • Best shade is under the awnings on the east side of the boulevard, which is also where the performers tend to stage the smaller bits.
  • Repeat visitors: the cast rotates material by day of week, so a set you saw on Tuesday will not be the set you see on Saturday.

Wonderful World of Animation

Any height

Show · 12 min

A projection show on the Chinese Theatre facade that runs through nearly a century of Disney animation in about twelve minutes.

The facade of the Chinese Theatre is used as a projection surface for a rapid tour through Disney and Pixar animation, structured loosely around the idea that a single pencil line becomes everything that followed. It is a mapping show rather than a fireworks show, which means the building itself appears to fold, melt, and rebuild.

Tips for Wonderful World of Animation
  • Stand between the flagpole and the hat-shaped planter for the flattest, least distorted angle on the projection. Straight-on beats close-up here.
  • If a shorter projection reel plays first, that is a separate piece and not the main show. Do not walk off during the gap.
  • The whole boulevard is standing room, so put small children on shoulders or stand further back where the crowd thins and the sightline is actually better.
  • Repeat visitors: on nights when the show runs twice, the second showing plays to perhaps a fifth of the crowd and you can stand dead center.

Disney Movie Magic

Any height

Show · 10 min

A ten-minute projection reel of live-action Disney films on the Chinese Theatre, usually programmed just before the animation show.

This is the live-action companion piece to the animation projection show, cut from Disney's non-animated catalog: adventure films, superhero films, pirate films, the occasional musical. It leans on big orchestral moments and works best if you have actually seen the movies, which makes it a much better watch for adults than for children.

Tips for Disney Movie Magic
  • Because it starts before the crowd assembles, you can walk up two minutes before showtime and still stand center.
  • The projection is brightest and sharpest on the upper tiers of the theater facade. Stand far enough back to keep the whole building in frame.
  • Skip it entirely if you are trying to make Fantasmic. The two are scheduled tightly and the amphitheater fills faster than this street does.
  • Repeat visitors: the clip selection has been revised more than once since 2017, so a segment you remember may no longer be in the reel.

Disney Skyliner

Any height

Transportation · 15 min

The gondola line from just outside the park gate to EPCOT and four resort hotels, and the fastest way out at closing time.

The Skyliner station sits immediately outside the Hollywood Studios turnstiles, and the line from here splits at Caribbean Beach toward EPCOT's International Gateway, Riviera Resort, Pop Century and Art of Animation. It is free, it runs continuously while the parks are open, and it beats a bus in almost every direction it serves.

Tips for Disney Skyliner
  • Going to EPCOT you must change at Caribbean Beach. It is a walk across the platform, not a new queue, and it adds about four minutes.
  • If the sky looks bad and you need to be somewhere, take the bus. Skyliner shutdowns cascade and the queue after one can run past an hour.
  • Cabins have no fans and no air conditioning; the vents only work while moving. Do not board with an infant right after a stoppage.
  • Repeat visitors: request a cabin to yourself by asking at the load platform. Cast members will usually accommodate it outside peak departure, which turns the ride into a genuine break.

Friendship Boats to EPCOT and the BoardWalk

Any height

Boat ride · 20 min

The slow canal launch linking the park to the BoardWalk, Yacht and Beach Club, Swan and Dolphin, and EPCOT's back gate.

A small fleet of covered boats runs the canal between the Hollywood Studios dock, the Epcot resort hotels and the International Gateway at EPCOT. The full run to EPCOT takes about twenty minutes with all the stops, which is slower than the Skyliner but far more pleasant than standing in a bus queue.

Tips for Friendship Boats to EPCOT and the BoardWalk
  • Sit on the left side heading toward EPCOT for the better view of the BoardWalk waterfront and, on many nights, the tail end of the EPCOT fireworks over the trees.
  • Boats stop for lightning just like the Skyliner but recover faster, because the docks are sheltered.
  • The walk from the dock to the BoardWalk or Yacht Club is roughly twenty minutes on foot, so on a short queue the boat is genuinely faster, not just easier.
  • Repeat visitors: at close, the boat queue is almost always shorter than the bus queue for these five hotels, and it starts loading before the buses stage.

Mickey & Minnie Starring in Red Carpet Dreams

Any height

Character meet · 5 min · Multi Pass

Two separate air-conditioned rooms just off Commissary Lane where you meet Mickey Mouse in one and Minnie Mouse in the other.

Tucked down the short side street between Echo Lake and the Chinese Theatre, this is a two-room character meet: Mickey Mouse in a sorcerer setting on one side, Minnie Mouse in a movie-star setting on the other. You queue once and see both, and PhotoPass photographers are in each room.

Tips for Mickey & Minnie Starring in Red Carpet Dreams
  • The queue is one line for two rooms, so the posted wait covers both greetings. A 25-minute post is really 25 minutes for two characters.
  • Late afternoon is quietest here because everybody is queueing for rides or heading toward Sunset Boulevard.
  • Bring anything you want signed. Both characters sign, and the room is calm enough that autographs do not hold up the line.
  • Repeat visitors: this is one of the few indoor sit-and-cool-down-adjacent spots in the middle of the park, and the queue itself is an air-conditioned twenty minutes on a brutal afternoon.

Eating in Hollywood Boulevard

Table service · Hollywood Boulevard

The Hollywood Brown Derby

The park's signature restaurant, a recreation of the Los Angeles original, and the only genuinely quiet dining room at Hollywood Studios.

$$$$Book ahead

  • CuisineAmerican fine dining
  • ReservationsReservations essential

Lounge · Hollywood Boulevard

The Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge

The covered outdoor patio attached to the Brown Derby, taking walk-ups for cocktails, small plates and the two signature dishes.

$$

  • CuisineSmall plates and cocktails
  • ReservationsNo reservations

Bakery · Hollywood Boulevard

The Trolley Car Cafe

The Starbucks location on the corner of Hollywood and Sunset, with a trolley-barn interior and the park's only real espresso.

$Mobile order

  • CuisineCoffee and pastries
  • ReservationsNo reservations

Snacks worth stopping for

$34

Finely chopped greens, bacon, egg, avocado, blue cheese and turkey tossed tableside, the dish the original Los Angeles Brown Derby is credited with inventing.

Our take: Genuinely excellent and genuinely expensive. Order it on the outdoor lounge patio without a reservation and you get the same salad from the same kitchen for far less commitment.

Near the top of the list Savory Gluten-friendly

Grapefruit Cake

The Hollywood Brown Derby

$14

A light chiffon cake layered with grapefruit cream cheese frosting and citrus segments, carried over from the original 1930s restaurant menu.

Our take: The best dessert at Hollywood Studios and nothing else here is close. Tart rather than sugary, which is why people who dislike theme park desserts love it.

Do not leave without it Sweet Vegetarian

Cold Brew Coffee

The Trolley Car Cafe

$6.29

Standard Starbucks cold brew from the park's coffee location on the corner of Hollywood and Sunset, served over ice.

Our take: The only real coffee in the park and the reason to know this location exists. Mobile order it from the rope drop queue rather than joining the morning line.

Drink VeganGluten-friendly Walkable

Nearby

Disney's Hollywood Studios map See where this land sits All attractions Every ride in Disney's Hollywood Studios Echo Lake A small lake ringed by 1940s roadside architecture, holding two of the park's three best live shows. Grand Avenue A short stretch of contemporary downtown Los Angeles that now functions mainly as the walkway into Galaxy's Edge.