The Magic of Disney Animation moved to its permanently shortened hours yesterday, September 28, and now there’s a mismatch between what My Disney Experience shows and what’s actually posted at the building’s entrance.
If you’ve been trying to figure out exactly when you can walk into this building, you’re not imagining the confusion. Even the official sources don’t fully agree with each other right now.
Here’s what’s posted at the entrance. Character meet and greets in Off the Page!, covering Chip ‘n’ Dale, Donald & Daisy, Goofy, Mulan, Rapunzel, and Stitch, along with Olaf Draws!, are all opening at 9 AM. The Once Upon A Studio Theater, meanwhile, doesn’t start screenings until 10 AM a full hour later than everything else in the building. My Disney Experience currently shows the entire attraction as operating 10 AM to 6 PM, which appears to reflect only the theater’s schedule rather than the building as a whole. In practice, that means the app is telling you the wrong opening time if you’re headed for a character meet or Olaf Draws! specifically.
This isn’t the first hours change this building has been through, and it’s worth understanding the bigger picture. The Magic of Disney Animation opened September 14 running a generous 9 AM to 9 PM schedule, matching Hollywood Studios’ own park hours almost exactly. That held through September 27, giving guests two full weeks of an easy, all-day window to explore the building. Starting September 28, Disney cut that down to 10 AM to 6 PM, an eight-hour window that’s a full third shorter than the opening stretch, and one that now closes off both rope drop and evening visits entirely. Disney hasn’t publicly explained the reduction, though a shortened post-opening schedule is a fairly normal pattern for indoor walk-through experiences at Walt Disney World once the initial preview period wraps up.
So what should you actually do with this information? If Olaf Draws! or an Off the Page! character meet is on your list, the entrance signage suggests you can still get in at 9 AM, even though the app says otherwise, so it’s worth checking in person rather than trusting My Disney Experience alone. If the Once Upon A Studio Theater is your priority, plan to arrive from 10 AM on, since that’s the one piece actually following the hours the app displays. Either way, don’t save this building for a rope-drop stop or an after-dinner wind-down anymore, since neither end of the park day works for it under the new schedule.
Disney hasn’t said whether this discrepancy between the app and the entrance signage is a temporary glitch or whether it’ll stick around, so it’s worth double-checking both sources again closer to your visit.
We’ll keep tracking Magic of Disney Animation’s hours as Disney sorts out the mismatch, so check back with Theme Park Scope for updates, and follow us on social so you don’t miss it.
Has THIS kind of app-versus-signage mixup ever thrown off your touring plan at Hollywood Studios?
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