Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
A new chapter
Toy Story Land opens at Hollywood Studios.
Carloads of girls and boys — and toys — of all ages arrived at Walt Disney World for the official grand opening of Toy Story Land, the colorful, nostalgia-driven expansion of Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park Saturday.
Many stood in line for hours to get into the area, some dressed as the cowboy character Woody, some dressed as Buzz Lightyear and at least one person dressed as both. Some people sported five eyes, courtesy of headbands that included three that echoed the aliens’ look in the “Toy Story” movies.
“We are Disney fanatics. I’ve been counting this down since they announced it,” said Rachel Davis of Tampa, who arrived with her husband June and children at 4:30 a.m. Saturday. She was decked out as a sequined version of Jessie, the “Toy Story” cowgirl. He wore a Buzz shirt with a pink apron and floppy hat, going for the Mrs. Nesbitt bit when a depressed tea-party-going Buzz finds out that he’s not a real space ranger in the first film, which came out in 1995.
June Davis was hesitant about his bit of cosplay at first, he said. “When I got in here, I got into the aura, the energy and I thought ‘Why not?’ ” he said.
Early arrivals came out ahead for this opening of a Disney land, which features two rides, a counter-serve restaurant and the perspective that guests are toy-sized. The park officially was slated to open at 8 a.m., but visitors were let in at 6:30 a.m.
Friends Ashley Lay and Victoria Jones, of Atlanta, said they got to Hollywood Studios at 7 a.m. and walked straight into Toy Story Land. By 8 a.m., folks were being held in a two-hour long queue just to get into the area before getting into another line for the two rides. Waiting patrons were weaving through stanchions as far back as the park’s Chinese Theater.
By midday, the wait time for the Slinky Dog Dash roller coaster was more than four hours.
Lay was geared up in an aliens headband with a matching popcorn bucket shaped like a full-sized little green man. The $20 souvenir was so big that it came with a lanyard so it could dangle around buyers’ necks. Folks lined up 50 deep for those, too.
“I collect popcorn buckets,” she said. “I have them all set up in my office.”
Both are ’90s kids, Jones said. The “Toy Story” franchise takes her back to her childhood, she said, but the new park was good for all ages.
“The older parents and the grandparents remember the toys that were in the movie; our age remember the movies themselves and the young kids have grown up watching them,” she said. “I think it’s great for the whole family to come, because it spans generations.”
Two generations were represented by Lee and Wendy Lerman and daughter Isabelle, who traveled from Boca Raton for the grand opening. Their “Toy Story” roots are deep. Lee and Wendy’s first date was to see the Pixar film after having been too late to get tickets to “Casino.” They were glad it worked out that way, Lee Lerman said.
“It blew our mind,” he said. “There had been nothing like that ever created before. Here was this amazing movie with this amazing story with [these] amazing graphics. We were completely blown away.”
They passed their “Toy Story” love along to their teenage daughter, who brought the Woody doll from her childhood to the park. She made T-shirts for her parents that read “Toy Story was our first date.” The three “Toy Story” movies have been around long enough that they earned multigenerational appeal, a plus for Disney planners.
Jorge Cintron, 31, of Orlando, said the series is his favorite set of animated movies, and now “Toy Story” is one of the favorites of his 3-year-old daughter, Angelisse. He also enjoys theme parks, including the Toy Story Mania attraction, which doubles as a digital carnival-game competition. (“I haven’t lost to anyone I’ve gone on with,” he said. “I love that ride.”)
He’s looking forward to taking his daughter to Toy Story Land, but they’re going to wait until after the initial surge of crowds, he said.
“I’m going to love the aesthetic and be able to walk in the area,” Cintron said. “I am going to go. That’s a given.”
Melissa Faris remembers watching the films with her younger siblings.
“It was one of our favorites growing up. We loved all three of them,” she said. “Now I’m a mom and I have two little ones.”
Faris, a Walt Disney World annual passholder and Orlando resident, said she and her children — Caleb, 8, and Camryn, 6 — have followed the progress of the land through a Facebook group. “They’re definitely excited about the roller coaster. That’s No. 1,” she said. “They’ve already asked Dad if FastPasses are available.”
“Toy Story 4,” featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen again, is set to debut in late June of 2019. And Hollywood Studios will be getting yet another expansion in the late fall of next year. That’s when Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is scheduled to open.