Toy Story Land Comes to Life at Disney's Hollywood Studios

We learn that Andy is smart. The owner of Woody, Jessie and Buzz Lightyear, he made only brief appearances in the Toy Story movies, a supportive actor while his toys were the prospects. But looking at the new Toy Story Land at Disney's Hollywood Studios, which he created in his own garden, one realizes that he is ingenious, intelligent and creative. Who knew?

Toy Story Land officially opens on June 30th. If you thought that toys would continue to be the heroes of this chapter of the Toy Story saga, you will now see how bad you were.

Here's what Andy did: He assembled a Dash & Dodge Mega Coaster game kit, but instead of using the standard vehicle that came with the kit, he used his slinky dog ​​toy, turned a dachshund into a roller coaster train. If you have any doubts that he is smart enough to accomplish this, you can see his notes and drawings glued to the wall in the loading area of ​​Slinky Dog Dash

He used a playset that he won at Pizza Planet to create the Alien Swirling Saucer Tower. He opened his lunch box with a giant thermos to serve grilled cheese sandwiches and soda floats. And he transformed two other toys – a dump truck and a camper – into souvenir shops.

Andy did not make an appearance Thursday when Disney World showed the new earth to more than 400 members of the media. "Andy and I were the same age when the first movie was released" in 1995, said Ryan Wineinger, artistic director of Toy Story Land.

Here's a little more evidence that Andy, not the Imagineers, is the creative brain behind Toy Story Land: They could not tell how high or how fast the roller coaster is going. Asked about the numbers, Pam Rawlins, Executive Producer of Toy Story Land, said, "It's just exhilarating enough that it can please everyone."

Uh-huh.

Putting aside for the moment the question of who was the true creative mind behind Toy Story Land, here's what you'll find there.

The roller coaster of Slinky Dog Dash is fast but it's not too fast. It never turns upside down, but it has gently sloping turns, two high-speed launches and a few not too stiff but still thrilling drops. The coaster, the central attraction, is just for children under 10 who have passed the roller coaster.

It might be a bit tame for teenagers looking for thrills but their parents, who grew up in the era of the first toy. Story Movie (1995), could find Slinky Dog Dash more their style than the high speed coasters that have drops and go backwards.

And the decor, colorful and full of toys, might appeal to their grandparents (or people old enough to be grandparents), who grew up in the era of Tinker Toys, which are part of The kitschy infrastructure, and Slinky Dog, a pulled toy that came out in 1952 and is the model for the roller coaster. The youngest may like Alien Swirling Saucers, where the minimum height to climb is only 32 inches

More than many theme park grounds (or clusters or islands), Toy Story Land has a multigenerational appeal. It was deliberately designed this way, Wineinger said.

"One of our guiding principles was to make this experience something that children and their parents and grandparents could all have a good time here," Wineinger said. If the earth is to be true to the values ​​of Toy Story movies, he said, "We need it to be multigenerational."

"It's a very fine line between being an accessible attraction and being too exciting for young people – or for the older generation."

The 11-acre lot is pretty much behind Toy Story Mania!, which received a new entry from Slinky Dog Dash, a third track, and a general refresh.

Here is what you need to know about Toy Story Land:

What is the speed of the most recent roller coaster of Orlando? Disney does not say: his representatives often compare Slinky Dog Dash to another Russian family. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom, which has a top speed of 39 miles per hour Slinky Dog feels faster than that.

Another parallel coaster to Slinky Dog Dash is Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens, also a Coaster Family Like Cheetah Hunt, Slinky Dog has some launches – p points where the roller coaster speeds up like a rocket. On Cheetah Hunt, a launch takes the coaster to 60 mph, its maximum speed. Slinky Dog Dash does not feel so fast.

Best estimate for Slinky Dog Dash: 45-50 mph.

We also do not know how fast the two launches of Slinky Dog are – there is one at the start and one near the middle. "It's a family launch, it's not the Rock 'n Roller Coaster," said Phil Holmes, vice president of Disney's Hollywood Studios, in reference to the other roller coaster of the park, which goes from zero to 57 mph in 2.8 seconds. ] The minimum size for Slinky Dog Dash is 38 inches, which usually means kids as young as 3 or 4 can ride with their parents.

Is this Tatooine? No, that's Batuu. Look to the right when you reach the top of a hill on Slinky Dog Dash, and you will see the spiers of a village. That's the building of Star Wars Land At Hollywood Studios, a village called Black Spiers on the Batuu Planet, a trading post on the outer edge of the Star Wars galaxy. Star Wars Land is supposed to open at the end of autumn 2019.

What toys are real and who were created for the movies? Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear, who welcome visitors to both ends of Toy Story Land, are original characters created for Toy Story movies. But more toys presented at Toy Story Land are real toys from the mid-1940s to the 1960s, including Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Tinker Toys, Etch-A-Sketch, Monkey Barrels, Cooties and Slinky Dog.

What is Spacecraft? Alien Swirling Saucers was designed for children ages three and up. It is based on a scene from the original movie in which a giant claw in a vending machine sometimes goes down and catches a small green alien. On the way, a claw gripping an impotent extraterrestrial hovers over his heads.

The architecture of the arena is similar to that of Mater's Junkyard Jamboree in Disney California Adventure Park at Disneyland. Racing vehicles, toy rockets fired by aliens in tiny spaceships, are arranged on disks or carousels that constantly rotate and move the spacecraft from one circular carousel to the other. And it's a generation or two removed from the Mad Tea Party at the Magic Kingdom, which also has a rotating carousel. Unlike tea cups however, rockets do not spin – which is probably more a relief for adults than for kids who like to turn.

Who wants a retro breakfast: One of Toy The most unexpected elements of Story Land are the sweet pastries like Pop-Tarts, a still popular snack introduced by Kellogg in 1964. At Woody's Lunch Box, you can buy raspberry or chocolate-hazelnut tartlets developed by Disney's culinary team.

Where did Wheezy get that sexy voice? At the end of the Slinky Dog Dash track, riders are praised by Wheezy, a chubby penguin who invites guests to sing. Using Mr. Mike, a rudimentary karaoke-type toy invented for the movie, Wheezy breaks into a suave, baritone version of "You have a friend in me." In "Toy Story 2", Wheezy is voiced by the late Robert Goulet when he sings. At Toy Story Land, she was asked if Goulet's recording had been used, a Disney spokeswoman said "Wheezy's singing the song."

Uh-huh. Who thinks this squeaky penguin might look like this? Clearly another movement inspired by Andy. We will go with Goulet.