Toy Story Midway Mania - Disney's Hollywood Studios

Walt Disney World guests are now donning 3-D glasses, entering a wild and wooly 4-D world of Woody, Buzz and other favorite "Toy Story" characters, and aiming to have high-scoring fun in Toy Story Mania! at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. As part of Disney’s "Year of a Million Dreams," the attraction will also debut on the West Coast, with a scheduled opening in Disney's California Adventure at Disneyland Resort June 17.

Inspired by the Disney-Pixar films "Toy Story" and "Toy Story II," Toy Story Mania! raises the bar for interactive ride-game attractions. It's a high-energy, immersive adventure that puts guests right in the action as their game play triggers fun surprises that provide a fourth dimension of fun. Toy Story Mania! engages guests in a whole new way with the delightful characters of the films.

Upon entering the attraction, guests will be welcomed by Mr. Potato Head, more than five feet tall and looking like he stepped right down from the movie screen. The state-of-the-art Audio-Animatronics Mr. Potato Head makes a perfect carnival barker, capable of engaging guests in two-way conversation and encouraging them to "step right up" for the immersive Toy Story Mania! experience.

Everyone gets a front row seat when guests put on their 3-D glasses, "shrink" to the size of a toy and board Toy Story Mania! carnival tram ride vehicles which add a huge amount of fun to the interactive experience. The exciting and colorful route takes guests through "Andy's Bedroom" filled with oversized murals and toys. The vehicles angle to face Toy Story Mania! game booths -- high-tech yet rooted in classic midway games of skill -- and guests aim for 3-D animated targets using their own on-board spring-action shooters. Players pair up and sit side-by-side for a friendly competition that delivers an ever-changing variety of targets and surprises.

As they play, guests can actually see the "virtual" objects they've launched leave their spring-action shooters and hit (or miss) the targets. And thanks to 4-D special effects technology, they may sense objects whirring past them as they pop out of the 3-D scenes.

The Toy Story Mania! games -- five of them, plus an introductory practice round -- are designed to be enjoyed by audiences of all ages and skills, from beginners to experienced gamers. Play is energized by the spirit of the "Toy Story" characters cast in games that best suit their very animated personalities.

First comes the "Pie Throw Practice" round in which guests can try splattering targets with virtual pies.

Next, Hamm hosts a "Hamm & Eggs" booth in which players launch plastic virtual eggs at various barnyard targets.

"Bo Peep's Baaa-loon Pop" presents a landscape full of balloon sheep, trees and other objects at which guests can launch virtual darts. But players had better be careful! A popped virtual water balloon might add an additional 4-D wet dimension to the game.

From there it's on to "Green Army Men Shoot Camp" where the challenge is to break plates with virtual baseballs.

Next up is "Buzz Lightyear's Flying Tossers," a ring-toss game hosted by everyone's favorite space ranger, with Little Green Aliens as the targets.

For the grand finale game, Toy Story Mania! players ride through Wild West scenes launching virtual suction-cup darts at targets in "Woody's Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' Gallery." A final "Woody's Bonus Roundup" encourages guests to fire their spring-action shooters as rapidly as possible at one last super-target for extra points. When scores are tallied, players' skill levels are identified and they can see how they've done compared to the high scores.

The game play of Toy Story Mania! is accompanied by creative musical variations of Randy Newman's "You've Got A Friend in Me," arranged by veteran music editor Bruno Coon, a frequent Newman collaborator, to compliment the games -- for example, a military brass band version for "Green Army Men Shoot Camp."

No matter how many times guests return to ride and play, they can be sure every ride-through will seem different.

TOURING TIPS

* In each of the Toy Story Mania! games, there is at least one "Easter Egg" -- targets that can trigger the appearance of bonus high-value targets and other changes in the scene.

* Watch for loose change in the prize scene -- Hamm is carrying more than $6 in coins when his cork pops.

* Because of the indoor nature of the attraction and to keep the guest experience fun for all, flash photography or video is not allowed on Toy Story Mania!

* Everyone can play! There is no height or age restriction for guests to experience Toy Story Mania!

* Actual ride time aboard Toy Story Midway Mania! is a full five minutes.

* Ready, aim, fire! Players have 30 seconds in each game play area to score points.

* Toy Story Mania! utilizes Disney's FASTPASS, a return voucher offering little or no waiting time at select attractions. Single riders also have their own queuing option for Toy Story Mania!

* The attraction has customized cars for special needs riders. Reader Beth Floro notes: The back of the vehicle folds into a ramp -- 2/3 of the seat rolls out so that a wheelchair or power chair can go in (no scooters - too heavy). The padded lap bar is replaced with a different one, and a seat belt is added. The gun has both the regular pull-string AND a button on top (for those who can't pull a string). The button fires MUCH faster than the pull string. There is a button on all cars to turn on Closed Captioning -- your score screen will show the ride audio (but you won't see it because you're shooting stuff!). The downside? It takes a long time to convert the special car. In my opinion, they should stop using these (there are two) for regular seating and keep them "open" for wheelchairs -- I believe there will be enough wheel traffic to keep them in use. Here are a few photos of the wheelchair loading area:

For more photos of the special cars, click HERE.

INTERESTING FACTS

* Each ride vehicle weighs as much as 8,580 Woody dolls.
* It would take 5,026 toy soldiers lined up end-to-end to make up the total track length.
* Toy Story Mania! is the first time that Walt Disney Imagineering is creating an attraction for two Disney Parks simultaneously.
* It has been estimated that, each day, guests may break over one million virtual plates using the spring-action shooters.
* Riders in the Sky, the award winning group that wrote the songs that Mr. Potato Head performs as part of the attraction, is the same group that wrote "Woody's Roundup" for the "Toy Story" feature films.
* This is the first attraction that Walt Disney Imagineering designed where the Imagineers had to wear 3-D glasses to art direct all the black-light paint elements.
* The murals located in the load area at Disney's Hollywood Studios are the biggest murals painted since Epcot was built.
* In order to create a show that responds not only to every pull of a guest's spring-action shooter, but also every move their midway tram makes, there are over 150 computers communicating over multiple networks throughout the attraction.
* At Toy Story Mania! every guest gets to experience life at the size of a toy. So in Andy's room, a 5 foot 6 inch person will feel about 14" tall.
* More time was spent programming Mr. Potato Head than for any other Audio-Animatronics figure ever created by Walt Disney Imagineering.
* Mr. Potato Head will be able to say more lines of dialogue than any Audio-Animatronics figure ever created by Walt Disney Imagineering.
* The Mr. Potato Head Audio-Animatronics figure is the first time that an Audio-Animatronics figure can remove a body part and re-attach it (in the case of his ear).
* The Mr. Potato Head Audio-Animatronics figure has new, highly expressive and animated eyes that can look directly at a particular guest in the queue when speaking to him/her.
* Mr. Potato Head marks the first Audio-Animatronics figure whose mouth appears to form words and vowel sounds.
* Toy Story Mania! is the first time that Woody and Buzz Lightyear (along with some of their friends) from the Disney-Pixar "Toy Story" films appear together in a ride-through attraction.

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