More TSMM Grand Opening Videos
Laughing Place has a bunch of videos from the grand opening ceremony of Toy Story Midway Mania from this past Tuesday. You can find them all here.
John Lasseter Reveals Secrets of Toy Story Mania
Check out our exclusive video with Pixar chief John Lasseter for tips on how to unlock the secret “Easter Egg” targets in the new Toy Story Mania dark ride at Disney’s California Adventure in Anaheim and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida.
During our recent ride-along, Lasseter and I went mano a mano at Mania. To my great surprise, I beat the master. Find out how.
— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Midway Mania Trip Report Video
CptBingo on YouTube has put up a video highlighting the opening of Toy Story Midway Mania yesterday. Included is the 4hr long line, new maps, Green Army Men parachuting into DCA, & much more!
UPDATE: If you want a laugh, check this out (there is a bit of foul language towards the end of the video)!
MintCrocodile’s TSMM Opening Ceremony Update
Staff Photographer MintCrocodile is back with a look at today’s opening ceremony of Toy Story Midway Mania. I’m not going to post the ceremony pictures here, but there are plenty, & you can find them here!
Mint also has a video up of the ceremony, which will be available as a vidcast episode soon!
I do want to share Mint’s pictures of the new DCA map, featuring Toy Story Midway Mania & more:
More TSMM/IDH Coverage
Visions Fantastic has coverage of the opening of the Innoventions Dream Home & Toy Story Midway Mania. Included are the opening ceremonies of both attractions. They also have a video of the attraction. Keep checking their coverage for more pictures.
Midway Mania and Dream Home Open For Business!
Both Toy Story Midway Mania & the Innoventions Dream Home officially opened for business today! Here’s some pictures & a press release from Disney:
John Lasseter & Roger Gould riding Toy Story Midway Mania
Left to Right: Ed Grier, Jay Rasulo, Bob Iger, John Lasseter
During the opening ceremony, Green Army Men parachuted down into the Paradise Pier lagoon
Various executives at the opening of the Innoventions Dream Home
The Family Room at the Dream Home
TOY STORY MANIA! LAUNCHES WITH FOUR DIMENSIONS OF FUN AND A BIG BOOST FROM BUZZ AT DISNEYLAND RESORT
ANAHEIM, Calif. – June 17, 2008 – In a spectacular ceremony featuring sky divers, fireworks and Disney executives, along with NASA Astronauts and Buzz Lightyear on board the International Space Station, the new Toy Story Mania! attraction premiered today in Disney’s California Adventure as part of Disney’s “Year of a Million Dreams.”
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 in which guests don 3-D glasses and enter a wild 4-D world of game play with Woody, Buzz and other favorite “Toy Story” characters. Special effects add a fourth dimension of fun.
“Through the years, millions of people around the world have enjoyed the humor, excitement and wonder of ‘Toy Story’ and its unforgettable cast of characters,” said Bob Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Walt Disney Company. “With the opening of Toy Story Mania!, we celebrate the enduring popularity of Woody, Buzz and their friends as our Disneyland Resort guests become a part of their adventures through this new and imaginative theme-park experience.”
Joining Iger in the opening festivities for Toy Story Mania! were Jay Rasulo, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts; Ed Grier, President of the Disneyland Resort, and John Lasseter, director of the original “Toy Story” and Chief Creative Officer of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. Buzz Lightyear and NASA astronauts sent greetings to Disney•Pixar fans from “infinity and beyond” – aboard the International Space Station.
In the timeless tradition of Disney storytelling, Toy Story Mania! takes its inspiration from the fact that Andy’s toys spring to life whenever he is away. Soon after Andy received a “Midway Games Play Set” for his birthday, the toys opened the box and set up the game booths and carnival trams so everyone could ride and play.
Upon entering the attraction, guests are 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.
“Toy Story Mania! merges interactive gaming with classic storytelling as only Disney can do,” Rasulo said. “We consider it to be one of our most energetic, immersive experiences yet, and it took a remarkable collaboration between Pixar and Disney to bring it to life in 4-D.”
Everyone gets a front row seat when guests put on their 3-D glasses, “shrink” to the size of a toy and board the Toy Story Mania! carnival tram ride vehicles, which add a huge amount of fun to the interactive experience. The innovative design includes features that also make the fun accessible to guests with disabilities. No matter how many times guests return to ride and play Toy Story Mania!, they can be sure every ride-through will seem like a new experience.
Toy Story Mania is just the latest highlight of the Year of a Million Dreams celebration at Disney Parks. Also premiering at Disneyland Resort today is the new Innoventions Dream Home, in Tomorrowland at Disneyland park.
Innoventions Dream Home is both a show and a showcase, offering guests of all ages a hands-on experience with the newest in-home technologies as they interact with members of the fictional Elias family in a fun, home environment. Microsoft, HP, Life|ware and homebuilder Taylor Morrison have joined with Disneyland Resort to create entertaining, story-based demonstrations of the connected digital lifestyle, which can simplify and enhance daily family life.
Read More about Midway Mania and Dream Home Open For Business!
Drop On In The Midway
According to Blue Sky Disney:
Those of you that attend the grand opening of “Toy Story Midway Mania” on June 17th will get to see a great celebration of what could be the beginning of the Second Gate we always wanted.
Watch the skies while you’re there. You may see some real Green Army Men parachuting into the pier…
The Dark Ride Goes to a New Level!
Toy Story Mania takes the dark-ride concept to the next level with an immersive and interactive experience that only Disney can deliver. Call it the theme park ride for the Wii generation.
If Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters represented an evolutionary hyperspace leap forward, Toy Story Mania symbolizes the revolutionary next generation — the dark ride version 2.0.
After a preview ride this week, I only had one problem with Toy Story Mania: the all-consuming game prevents me from sitting back and simply enjoying the scenery. I have to play. For me, the game has already proven so addictive as to cause TSM (a.k.a. Mania Elbow) — a form of repetitive stress injury brought on by repeated tugging on the spring-action shooter. I find myself constantly shaking my sore wrist after each round of play.
Opening June 17 at Disney’s California Adventure, the $80-million D-Ticket Toy Story Mania takes riders through a carnival midway hosted by the movie’s animated characters — Buzz, Woody, Jessie, Rex and Hamm.
Wearing 3-D glasses, riders on the five-minute drive-through video game compete against one another by firing virtual darts, pies and eggs during virtual games of chance.
Is Toy Story Mania the best ride at California Adventure? Absolutely. It plays to Disney’s storytelling strength and surpasses Tower of Terror and Soarin’ Over California on my all-time favorites list.
Are there better rides across the way at Disneyland? Absolutely. I still prefer Indiana Jones Adventure and Haunted Mansion for a completely immersive experience.
But Toy Story Mania is an excellent benchmark for DCA going forward as the planned $1.1-billion expansion unfolds over the next five years. Here’s hoping Disney’s Imagineers keep the bar set high and strive to outdo their Toy Story Mania success.
— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
DisneyGeek DCA Picture Update
Let’s take a look at some various things going on through-out the Disneyland Resort from the latest Disneyland Update on DisneyGeek:
The 2008 Hi Seoul Korea Performing Arts Showcase
On either side of the stage were monitors that showed the name of what the group was performing, & between shows played a video
Check out the DisneyGeek DLR Update (linked above) for more pictures from 3 of the performances on June 9th
For some reason, this section of Paradise Pier is blocked off
More scaffolding is up on the Grizzly River Run waterwheel
Here are a few pictures from inside Toy Story Midway Mania
Again, more pictures from TSMM are in the DisneyGeek DLR Update
Toy Story Holiday Mania?
Here’s a little rumor brought up on WDW News Today for WDW’s Toy Story Midway Mania, that should also happen with ours:
Imagineering is already beginning to work on upgrades for Toy Story Mania, with holiday version of the ride planned to debut in 2009 and an updated Toy Story 3 inspired version around 2010 or 2011.