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Credit: Lee (myfrozenlife), FlickrDisney’s Hollywood Studios has quietly adjusted its Early Entry offerings for resort hotel guests, removing Walt Disney Presents from the list of attractions available during the 30-minute early access period each morning. The gallery, which houses rotating exhibits and Disney memorabilia, had been opening early for several weeks to accommodate crowds wanting to see the Taylor Swift Eras Tour costume display.
Now that holiday visitor numbers have returned to more typical levels, the venue has reverted to standard operating hours, opening at 9 a.m. along with the official park opening time rather than during the early access window.
For those unfamiliar with how Early Entry works at Walt Disney World, resort hotel guests receive access to all four theme parks 30 minutes before official opening time every single day. This perk allows families staying on property to get a head start on popular attractions, experience shorter wait times, and maximize their park days.
Hollywood Studios typically offers early access to major attractions like Slinky Dog Dash, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and Tower of Terror during this period. Walt Disney Presents joining that lineup, even temporarily, was unusual given that it’s a walk-through gallery rather than a ride or major attraction.
The decision to include Walt Disney Presents in Early Entry was directly tied to the Taylor Swift costume exhibit that arrived at the venue in conjunction with the release of her Eras Tour concert film and docuseries on Disney+.
The display features actual costumes from the record-breaking tour, creating significant interest among Swift fans visiting the parks. During peak holiday crowds, allowing early access to the gallery helped distribute guests more evenly throughout the park and prevented bottlenecks at the venue’s entrance.
With holiday crowds now dissipated and January bringing more manageable attendance levels, Disney apparently decided the early opening was no longer necessary.
Taylor Swift Exhibit Remains, Christmas Displays Linger
The exact end date for the exhibit hasn’t been announced, but Disney has indicated the costumes won’t be permanent fixtures at the gallery. If you’re hoping to see them, planning a visit sooner rather than later makes sense, as these types of promotional displays typically have limited runs before being replaced with new content.
Interestingly, Christmas displays are still in place at Walt Disney Presents despite the holiday season officially ending weeks ago. Santa Claus no longer holds meet-and-greets at the venue, but the festive decorations remain visible throughout the gallery space.
This isn’t particularly unusual for Disney, as holiday decor often lingers into early January while crews systematically remove seasonal elements across the resort. The decorations will likely disappear within the next week or two as the park fully transitions out of holiday mode.
The gallery itself serves as a combination museum and promotional space for Disney projects. It regularly rotates exhibits to coincide with new film releases, anniversary celebrations, or special events.
Past displays have featured everything from props and costumes from recent Pixar films to historical artifacts from Disney’s animation archives. The space also includes a small theater that screens previews of upcoming Disney+ content and theatrical releases, making it a useful venue for promoting the company’s entertainment slate.
Hollywood Studios Identity Crisis Continues
The shift in Walt Disney Presents’ Early Entry status is a minor operational adjustment, but it’s happening against the backdrop of much larger changes transforming Hollywood Studios’ identity. The park has been moving steadily away from its original concept as a celebration of filmmaking and Hollywood’s golden age, instead becoming a collection of immersive lands based on Disney’s most popular intellectual properties.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge represents the most obvious example of this shift. The land is undeniably impressive, offering guests the chance to pilot the Millennium Falcon, face off against the First Order on Rise of the Resistance, build custom lightsabers at Savi’s Workshop, and construct droids at Droid Depot. Character encounters with Chewbacca, Rey, and Kylo Ren add to the immersive experience.
However, Galaxy’s Edge has nothing to do with Hollywood or the movie-making process. It’s pure immersion in the Star Wars universe, prioritizing world-building over any connection to cinema history.
Toy Story Land follows a similar pattern. The area shrinks guests down to the size of toys in Andy’s backyard, creating a colorful, playful environment that families love. Slinky Dog Dash and Alien Swirling Saucers draw consistent crowds, and the theming is undeniably charming.
But like Galaxy’s Edge, it doesn’t connect to Hollywood or filmmaking in any meaningful way. It’s about experiencing the world of Toy Story, not learning about how those movies were made.
The loss of The Great Movie Ride stands out as perhaps the most significant departure from the park’s original mission. That attraction physically transported guests through elaborate recreations of iconic film scenes from Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, with live hosts narrating the journey.
It felt like stepping onto an actual Hollywood backlot. Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, which replaced it, is a delightful cartoon adventure, but it abandoned any pretense of celebrating cinema history in favor of pure animated chaos.
The upcoming transformation of the Muppet Vision 3D area into Monsters, Inc. land continues this trend. Muppet Vision 3D worked thematically because it was staged as a production inside a working theater, fitting the behind-the-scenes concept. Monsters, Inc., while beloved, is another step toward franchise immersion rather than Hollywood celebration.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster’s planned closure and retheme represents yet another piece of the park’s original identity disappearing. The high-speed coaster featured Aerosmith’s music and a storyline about racing through Los Angeles streets to reach a concert, maintaining at least some connection to Hollywood culture. Whatever replaces it will likely continue the pattern of prioritizing popular IP over thematic consistency.
What remains? Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage continues to perform, and Tower of Terror maintains its connection to old Hollywood glamour. But a few themed shows don’t define a park when the majority of attractions tell completely different stories. Hollywood Studios is in the midst of an identity crisis, transforming into something fundamentally different from what it was designed to be.
What This Means for Visitors
For guests planning Hollywood Studios visits, the removal of Walt Disney Presents from Early Entry is a minor inconvenience at most. The gallery was never a major draw during that early access period anyway, and most families use Early Entry to hit headline attractions like Slinky Dog Dash or Rise of the Resistance.
If you specifically want to see the Taylor Swift costumes, you’ll simply need to visit during regular park hours instead of rushing there first thing in the morning.
The broader transformation of Hollywood Studios is more significant for long-time fans who remember when the park felt cohesive in its celebration of cinema. Newer visitors who never experienced The Great Movie Ride or the original Backlot Tour won’t miss what they never knew.
For them, Hollywood Studios is simply another collection of Disney attractions based on popular franchises, and that’s perfectly fine. The rides are still fun, the theming is still impressive, and families still have great experiences there.
But for those who appreciated the park’s original concept and mourned each step away from it, watching Hollywood Studios become increasingly generic feels like a loss worth acknowledging, even as the park remains operationally successful and popular with guests.
Have you visited Walt Disney Presents to see the Taylor Swift Eras Tour costumes? Drop a comment and let us know what you thought of the exhibit, and whether you think Disney should keep it around longer or if you’re ready for the next display to take its place. And while you’re at it, tell us how you feel about Hollywood Studios losing more of its original Hollywood theme. Does it bother you, or do you think the new additions are improvements?