New Walt Disney World park maps turn Hollywood Studios ‘right-side up’

To accompany the East Coast debut of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, Disney’s Hollywood Studios has rolled out new park maps that flip the attraction’s orientation on its head — or finally put it back right-side up, depending on your point of view.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ new park maps place the entrance at the bottom once again.

Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, like the original Disneyland Park, were constructed with their entrances at the parks’ southern edge, which means guests enter them facing north. Therefore, their park maps are oriented with north at the top, in the standard position.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios, like Epcot before it, was built in an inverted orientation, with guests facing roughly southward as they enter the park. For many years, these parks presented their maps “upside-down” so that the entrance was depicted at the bottom, aiding guests who tend to instinctively think of forward as “up.”

Then, in 2013, Walt Disney World updated its printed park maps to match the digital versions found in the then-new My Disney Experience app, which places north at the top for all parks. As a result, Disney’s Hollywood Studios maps over the past six years have placed the park entrance near the upper-right corner.

As of Aug. 29, 2019, Disney’s Hollywood Studios maps have reverted to their original orientation, with the entrance at the bottom of the map, and the top edge representing the southwest direction. This flip places the newly opened Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at the top-left corner of the map, making it easy for Batuu-bound visitors to make a beeline to the anticipated expansion.

There’s just one catch: the My Disney Experience app still displays its maps in a true-north orientation, so the printed and digital guides will no longer match.

Also, Epcot, nor the water park printed maps have reverted their orientation, so the main entrance remains at the top and sides of the maps.

On the other hand, Disney’s California Adventure, which also has a northern front entrance, has always placed it at the bottom of their printed maps, even though the Disneyland Resort app uses the opposite layout.

Do you prefer maps that keep north at the top, or would you rather see them rotated for more natural navigation? It seems most of our Twitter followers prefer them with the entrance at the bottom of the map. Share your opinion below in the comments!

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3 Comments

    1. Unless you are using a compass, having North at the top is useless. It’s much better to print your maps with the entrance at the bottom because that’s how people align themselves to a park.