Toy Story Land in two words: improbably great.
Toy Story Land in ~2,500 words: uhh, well...is this thing on?
Okay, so weâre doing this.
This has all been in my head since my trip to the World in early August. I guess itâs time to get it all out.
First, letâs go back to last summer. Imagineering had the difficult task of attracting guests to a new land (Pandora) based on a property (Avatar) that is more often mocked than spoken of fondly. It all sounded good, but could they pull it off? It was immediately clear, as soon as previews started, that theyâd created something special. An alien world (a moon, technically) just steps away from a theme park celebrating our own planet, connected through the theme of conservation. It features the best attraction on property (Flight of Passage) and the best quick service on property (Satuâli Canteen) surrounded by an immersive and dense forest of strange looking fauna, some real and some âreal,â thousands and thousands of hours worth of intricate weaving, water features, and a âfloatingâ mountain done to a scale that had to be walked under to be believed and appreciated. And it feels like a completely different place at night. Itâs glowing, itâs alive, itâs magic.
It was so great and new and unique that it just didnât matter that the film was so far out of the zeitgeist; despite Pandora only being open for half of 2017, the parkâs attendance for the year was its highest ever, up 15.3% from 2016, and for the first time in its 19 year history, it welcomed more guests than Epcot to be the second most visited of the four Florida parks. (Yes, park attendance was up overall, but the other three parks were +0.3%, +4.2%, -0.5%, none of which compare to DAKâs increase.) The numbers make it clear: Pandora drove guests to the park. And we are part of that pack; we went soon after it opened just because the photos and videos from the previews were so good, we just had to go...and it surpassed our very high expectations. I know it might be hard to believe, but although the film (which I am not here to defend and have no particular love for or attachment to) is basically a meme unto itself, that really doesnât matter in this space. Itâs just that good.Â
Sci-fi time warp noise. Jump to the present.Â
Letâs finally get to Toy Story Land, which doesnât start out with the same disadvantage Avatar had: this franchise is beloved by people of all ages. Not quite on a Star Wars or Harry Potter level, but itâs a huge franchise and people love it. Three hit films released, with another on the way. It already has a big footprint in Disney parks around the world, including two attractions just in Florida. Itâs set up to succeed in a way that Pandora was not, but would Imagineering play it safe with that info or really dive into the immersive world building that they did so well just last summer?
The first plans for the land came out at D23 in 2015, and as much as Iâm one of the many people who love the franchise, and even though the films mean a lot to me for many reasons, and even though it was true both then and now that Hollywood Studios needs more attractions, my thought was 'yeah, okay, that will be cool. Itâll be for kids.' No big deal. Some kiddie rides and a giant Buzz and Woody to take my picture in front of. Cool.Â
And then some time went by, and more concept art came out and thanks to the huge budget overrun in Shanghai, some cuts had been made. Not cool.
And then all along, new aerial photos and new details about the land and the food and the attractions and their silly tag line of âPlay Big!â came out. I still had the same thought. Sure, cool, okay.
And then we saw the construction walls go up near (Midway) Mania, and we could see Rex and Jessie beyond the wall on our last few trips. Sure, cool, okay, looks cute, Rex rules.
And then the media preview happened. We saw videos of the Slinky Dog coaster. We saw videos of people actually walking the land. We learned all the tiny details of the theme.
Turn to camera. This is probably a good time to stop and explain some of the theme and contents of the land: the land is âAndyâs backyardâ and everything is huge because youâre a âtoyâ just like Buzz and Woody when you enter. Slinky Dog Dash is a toy roller coaster set Andy got (Dash and Dodge Mega Coaster Playkit) and built, but he decided to add his pal Slinky Dog to it to really make it go, so when you ride it youâre sitting in Slinkyâs coils. The queue features the instructions for the coaster that have Andyâs writing all over them as he put his own twist on the coaster by adding Slinky. Alien Swirling Saucers, the other new attraction, has an unfortunate acronym and is a prize Andy won at Pizza Planet. Woodyâs Lunchbox, the quick service food counter, is a literal lunchbox propped open with a thermos to serve food to all the toys. In the middle of the land, thereâs a lookout tower with army men watching to see if Andyâs coming back so they can warn the toys to stop playing. Anyways, like I was saying...
Everything looked better than I imagined it would. So just like with Pandora, we had to go ASAP, and we got down there for TSLâs fifth week of operation. And I absolutely loved it. I was wrong to underestimate it. Itâs not Pandora, because it shouldnât be. Itâs not fair to anyone to compare the two or to judge them by the exact same criteria. Theyâve each succeeded at doing what they were intending to do: put guests right into the stories and worlds theyâve seen on the screen. This one is going to be loved by kids, and enjoyed by adults.Â
Slinky is NOT a kiddie coaster, and goes faster than it looks like it goes. In intensity, itâs somewhere between Mine Train and Big Thunder. In addition to being a lot of fun, the track stretches through the entire land and offers a Peoplemover-esque view of the land, and a direct view at the Star Wars Land (more on that soon) construction. Saucers, despite being a copy/paste job of an off the shelf ride in California (with the theme changed from Cars to Toy Story) is silly and fun. Only 90 seconds long at maximum (and staff can choose to run it shorter if thereâs a long line and they need to get people through faster) and not worth a long wait, but fun. Itâs basically just a whip ride, and it doesnât have a ton of repeatability for most, but kids are going to love it. The soundtrack (new, techno-ish versions of songs we all know) is great. Just try to ride it and not laugh in between saying âwheeeeeee!â I dare you. I canât do it. The entire land really feels alive, and even though I didnât like the âPlay Big!â slogan, I have to admit...it makes sense in context.
Youâre greeted by a 20-foot tall Woody as you enter, Buzz is there in the back of the land, and Rex and Jessie overlook the entrance too, not far from Woody. Each character has audio cues that make the âbackyardâ feel alive with toys playing. The Green Army People are out and about often. Youâll see them marching around, with or without drums. We saw them playing games with guests at one point, and sometimes theyâre just out to take photos with guests. The Green Army Men used to have their faces covered by masks, and they didnât talk. Now there are women in the ranks too, and their faces are all painted green, so they can talk and interact with guests.Â
Itâs even better at night under the fantastic lighting. We rode Slinky and Saucers during daylight and at night, and both are better at night. Just like Pandora, itâs worth it to see this land in daylight and again at night.Â
The great details continue as you walk around: the merch stand is a Fisher-Price camper, the benches are made of stained popsicle sticks, string lights are held up by pencils and straws, Andyâs giant (remember, youâre a toy when youâre here) footprints are all over the ground, an umbrella for the seating area has been fashioned out of a Babybel cheese (they sponsor the land) and a few of the seats are Babybel too, one table has a note for Andy from his mom, the âemergency exit onlyâ signs are made to look like they were created with a labelmaker, there are two A113 references, and my favorite Easter egg is the release date of the first film hidden in plain sight as a price tag on a wall.
They really got almost all of the details right. One giant drawback is that there is no shade which also means thereâs nowhere to get out of the rain, and thatâs inconvenient because the two kinds of weather in central Florida are The Sun is Surely About to Touch the Earth and Kill Us All, and Oh Cool the Sun Disaâ Oh Itâs a Monsoon Now. Woodyâs Lunchbox should have had some indoor seating and/or an indoor gift shop would have been nice. They would have had to break theme to do so, but itâs their job to make that work, and even a bit of a break for guest comfort seems worth it to me, especially considering how theyâre breaking theme so freely in other parts of property as if sight lines donât matter anymore. They have added umbrellas in the Slinky line as well as at the character meet and greets, which is helpful but not enough.
Based on the wait times for the first few months of operation, the land isnât driving guests to the park like Pandora did for DAK. To go back to those numbers for a minute, DHS attendance will likely be up year over year, but I donât believe it will be significant. Itâs interesting to me that when comparing the two, the beloved intellectual property did not attract people nearly as much as the other IP. Disney Parks is increasingly obsessed with jamming characters and IP anywhere it will go and then some other places where it wonât (hello, Frozen and Guardians in Epcot!) so itâs my hope that somewhere inside the company theyâre taking note that the IP wasnât as important as just how good and exciting the attractions were. Pandora has cross-generational appeal and it looks, sounds, and feels different than anything else the parks have to offer. The same isnât true of Toy Story Land, and thatâs the reason only one of them made a big difference in park attendance.
But whatever the exact attendance number may be this year, 2019 will probably be a down year for the park because so many people who only visit WDW once a year or once every few years will be holding their trips back until The Next Big Thing opens...Christmas 2019, Star Wars: Galaxyâs Edge. And whether or not you like Avatar or Toy Story and have experienced these two wildly different and wildly entertaining lands, everything Iâve talked about here and all the great work Imagineering has done in the past five years working on these two lands bodes very very very well for Galaxyâs Edge to be even better.
And itâs more under the radar and if you donât follow theme park news maybe you havenât heard, theyâre building a Star Wars hotel adjacent to Star Wars Land. It will be fully immersive, and every guest will be part of a story, with missions to complete throughout the hotel. It will cost in the neighborhood of $1,000 per person per night, so I donât think Iâll ever stay there, but it sounds awesome if you really love Star Wars and want to live it. No opening date has been announced, but it will definitely not be opening with Galaxyâs Edge.
And while Star Wars doesnât mean nearly as much to me as Toy Story, I cannot wait to get into the land and see how the details and technology of that universe translate into a space and put guests into that galaxy far far away. Iâm interested to see how their details balance making the hardcore fans happy (the good ones, not the idiots remaking films or chasing actors off Twitter) while also appealing to the families who like Star Wars and want an out of this world experience but donât know (or maybe donât particularly care about) all the details. A good example of this: inside Imagineering right now theyâre debating how real the Millennium Falcon attraction should be. Youâre going to be piloting the ship, along with five other people. Some argue that if you crash the ship, the ride should just be over, even if it just started. But imagine waiting six hours in line just to crash the ship in 30 seconds and have it be over, especially if itâs not your fault but the fault of the complete stranger next to you. Nothing good can come of that. I want it to be as real as possible, but thatâs just not going to be okay. So can they find an appropriate level of interaction, incorporate some level of success and failure, or will it just turn out like Mission: SPACE, where each person has a âjobâ and a button to press, but the button means nothing?Weâll see what it looks like when it opens.
My excitement for the land is only matched by one thing: how terrified I am of just how long Iâll have to wait in line to even get into the land. For at least 2-3 years (2020-2023 or so) after it opens, the lines for the attractions will be obscene and there will be a line just to get into the land. (It should be noted that 2021 is the 50th anniversary of the WDW Resort, and there are a number of major projects underway now that should debut that year, which will also increase park attendance in a major way.) People will be waiting outside the park in the wee hours of the morning just to make sure they get in. But if itâs anything like Pandora and Toy Story Land - and my point in all of this is that we should expect it to be magnitudes better - Iâll be in that line as soon as I possibly can. I hope they are prepared for the surge in attendance.
It sure is a fun time to love theme parks. If you read this whole thing, Iâm sorry or youâre welcome! Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Drive safely. Goodnight.
