THE THRILL IS IN THE DETAILS
The fun of Walt Disney World’s Toy Story Land isn’t just the thrill of a new roller coaster.
The landscape is intentionally overgrown, to look like weeds in a wild backyard, so you feel small.
Sit on a bench made of used wooden Popsicle sticks, stained faintly by the different flavors.
Take in the elaborate larger-than-life details such as a giant plastic straw holding up a string of Christmas lights, or massive footprints — the equivalent of a size 240 shoe, Disney says — stomped across the path to remind you Andy has been here.
Imagineers mined the fertile imagination of Andy, the human child from “Toy Story” whose backyard is the setting for Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios park, which opens to the public Saturday.
“I want them to be wowed by it,” said Disney creative executive director Dave Minichiello, said of the thousands of guests expected for the first day at the land scaled to the perspective of
green army men.
Minichiello helped guide Orlando Sentinel journalists on a preview of the park this past Saturday.
The 11-acre land is the biggest expansion at Hollywood Studios since it opened in 1989, an effort that has taken about four years to create, Minichiello said. However, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will eclipse the expansion when it opens in fall 2019.
Early in the process, Imagineers played with toys to understand how they moved to make their oversize creations more believable.
“This was a little tip that our Pixar friends told us about,” said Minichiello, whose biggest challenge was keeping everything to scale. Pixar, now owned by Walt Disney Co., produced the movie franchise that the land is based upon.
The Disney Imagineers’ design incorporates more than 400 toy blocks, 238 Christmas lights and a ball that is 10 feet tall and weighs 3,600 pounds. The roller coaster
The most anticipated of the two new rides is Slinky Dog Dash — a roller coaster billed as familyfriendly but having a few thrilling moments that might surprise. Riders will feel some G-force, although Disney declined to say how fast it goes.
On the biggest descent, passengers feel an instant of weightlessness in their seats as they stare directly at the looming mountains under construction at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which is adjacent to Toy Story Land.
In one spot, the coaster pauses, moves backward and then zooms through a turbocharger set up to look as if it were pulled from a toy car track.
The track forms four “humps” — not steep drops but more like quick bobs rolling up and down. That design is unique at Walt Disney World, although a similar style appears on the Incredicoaster, the revamped ride formerly known as California Screamin,’ at Disney California Adventure.
Slinky Dog Dash’s finale is the Toy Story favorite, Wheezy the rubber toy penguin, serenading riders with “You Got a Friend in Me” before they exit.
Lines will likely be long for Slinky Dog — this is summer at a Disney theme park, after all — but there’s also much to admire in the queue.
The roller coaster loading station is formed by toy boxes that feature enlarged details down to the UPC barcode proof of purchase and the Milton Bradley logo.
The line passes by a tall bottle of Elmer’s Glue and Andy’s clipboard, with stickers for Pizza Planet and Rocky Gibraltar, a wrestling collectible in the films. Alien saucers
The second ride is geared more toward younger children, although adults seemed entertained riding at a preview. Alien Swirling Saucers whips people around — think of it as a more aggressive teacup ride.
Toy Story Land is a sensory overload: The singsongy music blasting from the alien saucers ride. The real voice of Tom Hanks telling cheesy jokes from the nearly 20-foot-tall Woody statue at the land’s entrance. The colorful blocks and the Christmas lights hung throughout. Even the trash cans are bright and colorblocked. Food, merchandise
Disney also is selling plenty of things in the attraction.
Woody’s Lunch Box offers adult foodie fare, such as a chocolate hazelnut pop tart with candied bacon ($3.29) and “grown-ups’ lemonade” with cherry vodka, lemonade and black cherry puree ($9.25).
There is also Bud Light, Blue Moon and Angry Orchard alcoholic drinks ($6.75 or $9.25, depending on 16 oz. or 22 oz.) Kids have turkey sandwich ($6.79) and grilled cheese ($5.99) options.
The restaurant is in the shape of a giant lunch box, including an oldschool thermos. Oversize green army men are either stealing from the lunch box or guarding an animal cracker and cheese from tourists, depending on your interpretation.
Two merchandise carts are offering limited-edition Toy Story Land opening shirts and mugs, light-up plastic tumblers, a Slinky Dog headband and special Magic Bands, among other items. The carts are converted into giant plastic vintage Hasbro toys that look like a dump truck and a camper.
Even the bathrooms fit into the theme. Scrabble and other toy letters spell out “Boys” or “Girls.”
“It’s really fun to go around the land and just take your time going through it and enjoy a lot of those details,” Minichiello said in the land that he helped create.