Toy Story Land
| Toy Story Land | |
|---|---|
| Park | Disney's Hollywood Studios |
| Land / area | Toy Story Land |
| Type | Themed land |
| Opened | June 30, 2018 |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering
|
| Status | Operating |
Toy Story Land is a themed land at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World in Florida. Opened on June 30, 2018, it covers about 11 acres (4.5 hectares) and is based on Pixar's Toy Story films. The land is presented as Andy's backyard, scaled so that guests are the size of toys moving among oversized building blocks, board-game pieces, Tinkertoys and other playthings Andy has left outside.
History
Toy Story Lands had opened earlier at other Disney resorts, beginning with a smaller version at Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris in 2010, followed by Hong Kong Disneyland in 2011. Those lands used a different, smaller set of flat rides. The Florida land was announced at the D23 Expo in August 2015 as part of a wider rebuilding of Disney's Hollywood Studios, alongside Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. It was built on land formerly used by the Studio Backlot Tour and adjoining backstage areas, behind the existing Toy Story Mania! attraction, which had stood alone in Pixar Place since 2008.
When the land opened, Toy Story Mania! received a new entrance from inside Toy Story Land, so that a ride built a decade earlier became one of the new land's three attractions. A large figure of Woody, leaning on the land's entrance sign, serves as its gateway from Grand Avenue and Animation Courtyard.
Attractions
Slinky Dog Dash is a family roller coaster presented as a track Andy has assembled from a construction kit, with Slinky Dog himself forming the train. The coaster launches twice — the second launch is framed as Andy sending the train through a set of rings — and passes a figure of Wheezy singing at the finale. It has a height requirement of 38 inches (97 cm).
Alien Swirling Saucers is a spinning whip ride themed to the toy playset of the little green Aliens from Pizza Planet. Guests ride in rockets pulled by flying saucers beneath a large model of the Claw.
Toy Story Mania!, the oldest of the three, is an indoor interactive shooting ride through a series of carnival games hosted by Woody, Buzz Lightyear and other characters.
Dining
Woody's Lunch Box is a counter-service restaurant themed as Andy's lunch box propped open with a thermos, serving sandwiches and totchos — tater tots topped as nachos — with seating among oversized chairs and tables made from toy packaging and a Babybel cheese sculpture.
Roundup Rodeo BBQ, a table-service restaurant, opened on March 23, 2023. It is presented as a rodeo arena Andy has built from cardboard and toy sets, and serves barbecue dishes family-style. It was the land's first full-service restaurant and its first substantial indoor dining room, a notable addition in a land otherwise built almost entirely outdoors.
Design
The land's central device is scale. Benches are made from oversized dominoes and popsicle sticks, lampposts are strung with Christmas lights at toy scale, and footprints in the pavement suggest Andy has walked through his own backyard at full human size. Rex the dinosaur stands atop a stack of Jenga blocks, Jessie appears on a building near the restrooms, and Green Army Men appear in live drum performances and character appearances. Because almost everything is outside and built from brightly coloured props, the land has little shade, a point frequently noted in coverage since opening.
Character appearances in the land include Woody, Jessie, Buzz Lightyear and Bo Peep, who returned to the films with Toy Story 4 in 2019.