Toy Story Land in two words: improbably great.
Toy Story Land in ~2,500 words: uhh, well...is this thing on?
Okay, so we’re doing this.
This has all been in my head since my trip to the World in early August. I guess it’s time to get it all out.
First, let’s 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 they’d 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 (Satu’li Canteen) surrounded by an immersive and dense forest of strange looking fauna, some real and some “real,” thousands and thousands of hours worth of intricate weaving, water features, and a “floating” 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. It’s glowing, it’s alive, it’s magic.
It was so great and new and unique that it just didn’t matter that the film was so far out of the zeitgeist; despite Pandora only being open for half of 2017, the park’s 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 DAK’s 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 doesn’t matter in this space. It’s just that good.
Sci-fi time warp noise. Jump to the present.
Let’s finally get to Toy Story Land, which doesn’t 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 it’s 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. It’s 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 I’m 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. It’ll be for kids.' No big deal. Some kiddie rides and a giant Buzz and Woody to take my picture in front of. Cool.
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 “Play Big!” 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 “Andy’s backyard” and everything is huge because you’re a “toy” 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 you’re sitting in Slinky’s coils. The queue features the instructions for the coaster that have Andy’s 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. Woody’s 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, there’s a lookout tower with army men watching to see if Andy’s 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 TSL’s fifth week of operation. And I absolutely loved it. I was wrong to underestimate it. It’s not Pandora, because it shouldn’t be. It’s not fair to anyone to compare the two or to judge them by the exact same criteria. They’ve each succeeded at doing what they were intending to do: put guests right into the stories and worlds they’ve seen on the screen. This one is going to be loved by kids, and enjoyed by adults.
Slinky is NOT a kiddie coaster, and goes faster than it looks like it goes. In intensity, it’s 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 there’s a long line and they need to get people through faster) and not worth a long wait, but fun. It’s basically just a whip ride, and it doesn’t 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 “wheeeeeee!” I dare you. I can’t do it. The entire land really feels alive, and even though I didn’t like the “Play Big!” slogan, I have to admit...it makes sense in context.
You’re 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 “backyard” feel alive with toys playing. The Green Army People are out and about often. You’ll see them marching around, with or without drums. We saw them playing games with guests at one point, and sometimes they’re just out to take photos with guests. The Green Army Men used to have their faces covered by masks, and they didn’t talk. Now there are women in the ranks too, and their faces are all painted green, so they can talk and interact with guests.
It’s 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, it’s worth it to see this land in daylight and again at night.
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, Andy’s giant (remember, you’re a toy when you’re 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 “emergency exit only” 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 there’s nowhere to get out of the rain, and that’s 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 Disa— Oh It’s a Monsoon Now. Woody’s 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 it’s their job to make that work, and even a bit of a break for guest comfort seems worth it to me, especially considering how they’re breaking theme so freely in other parts of property as if sight lines don’t 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 isn’t 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 don’t believe it will be significant. It’s 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 won’t (hello, Frozen and Guardians in Epcot!) so it’s my hope that somewhere inside the company they’re taking note that the IP wasn’t 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 isn’t true of Toy Story Land, and that’s 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: Galaxy’s Edge. And whether or not you like Avatar or Toy Story and have experienced these two wildly different and wildly entertaining lands, everything I’ve 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 Galaxy’s Edge to be even better.
And it’s more under the radar and if you don’t follow theme park news maybe you haven’t heard, they’re 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 don’t think I’ll 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 Galaxy’s Edge.
And while Star Wars doesn’t 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. I’m 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 don’t know (or maybe don’t particularly care about) all the details. A good example of this: inside Imagineering right now they’re debating how real the Millennium Falcon attraction should be. You’re 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 it’s 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 that’s 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 “job” and a button to press, but the button means nothing?We’ll 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 I’ll 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 it’s anything like Pandora and Toy Story Land - and my point in all of this is that we should expect it to be magnitudes better - I’ll 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, I’m sorry or you’re welcome! Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Drive safely. Goodnight.
