Toy Story Mania

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Where is it going?
Toy Story Mania is going in the huge soundstage buildings, including the Who Wants to be a Millionaire attraction, will become home to a new interactive dark ride, featuring a computer generated 3D environment, and moving vehicles, allowing riders to shoot at the environment. In short, the project is being pitched as a Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin - "The next generation".

What's in it?
Toy Story Mania will feature the Toy Story characters in the attraction as guests will wear 3D glasses and find themselves in vehicles where it appears as if they've been shrunk down to the size of toys and will be in scenes from Toy Story & Toy Story 2. Each show scene would be hosted by a particular character from the Toy Story movies, complete with their own mission brief for the scene. At each game booth, they will aim their "toy cannon" at animated targets while they encounted Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Hamm, Bo Peep and the Little Green Men.

Ride system
Guests will wear 3D glasses and ride in vehicles move through the building and point "x-rays" around the room they're in to reveal Toy Story characters and the more characters you reveal, the more entertainment you'll find. The ride system will remind many of the Spiderman attraction at Unversal Studios: Islands of Adventure but Disney feels the interactiveness of Toy Story Mania will distinguish the new attraction and be far more engaging. There should be 10 to 12 scenes in the ride each with so much going on to be revealed that re-rides will be necessary. Your spring-action shooter will launch darts at balloons, rings at aliens, eggs at barnyard targets and more.

When will it open?
The attraction will open sometime officially on May 31, 2008 with soft openings (public previews) occuring during the month of May 2008. Walt Disney World Annual Pass Holders will be able to get a sneak preview May 10th through 12th, 2008.

Toy Story Mania Opening Dates

Annual Pass holder preview: May 10 - 12, 2008 from 9am - 7pm
Soft previews: May 13-30, 2008
Official opening date: May 31, 2008

Press Release

TOY STORY’ CHARACTERS CHALLENGE GUESTS TO RIDE AND PLAY Toy Story Mania!
Disney Parks guests will don 3-D glasses and enter a wild and wooly 4-D world of Woody the Cowboy and Buzz Lightyear when Toy Story Mania! premieres this summer. The attraction will debut on both coasts: at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, and along the Paradise Pier midway in Disney’s California Adventure at Disneyland Resort in California.

Celebrating the Disney•Pixar classics “Toy Story” and “Toy Story II,” Toy Story Mania! raises the bar for interactive ride-game attractions. It’s a high energy, immersive adventure that makes guests a key part of the action as their game play triggers special effects that provide a fourth dimension of fun. “Toy Story Mania!” engages guests in a whole new way with the delightful characters of the films.

Upon entering the attraction, guests will be 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 for the immersive Toy Story Mania! experience, since he is the first attraction-based Audio-Animatronics figure who can engage guests in a two-way conversation.

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, whose fast travel and spinning add a huge amount of fun to the interactive experience. The exciting and colorful route takes guests through “Andy’s Bedroom” filled with oversized murals and toys. The vehicles spin to face Toy Story Mania! game booths – high-tech yet rooted in classic midway games of skill – and guests aim for 3-D animated targets using their own on-board “spring-action shooters.” Players pair up and sit side-by-side for a friendly competition that delivers an ever-changing variety of targets and surprises.

As they play, guests can actually see the “virtual” objects they’ve launched leave their “spring-action shooters” and hit the targets (or not). And thanks to 4-D special effects technology, they may sense objects whirring past them as they pop out of the 3-D scenes.

The Toy Story Mania! games – five of them, plus an introductory practice round – are designed to be enjoyed by audiences of all ages and skills, from beginners to serious gamers. Play is energized by the spirit of the “Toy Story” characters cast in games that best suit their very animated personalities.

First comes the “Pie Throw Practice” round in which guests can try splattering targets with “virtual” pies.

Next Hamm the pig hosts a “Hamm & Eggs” booth in which players launch “plastic virtual eggs” at various barnyard targets.

“Bo Peep’s Baaa-loon Pop” presents a landscape full of balloon sheep, trees and other objects at which guests can launch virtual darts. But players had better be careful! A popped virtual water balloon might add an additional 4-D wet dimension to the game.

From there it’s on to “Green Army Men Shoot Camp” where the challenge is to break plates with baseballs.
Next up is “Buzz Lightyear’s Flying Tossers,” a ring-toss game hosted by everyone’s favorite space ranger, with Little Green Aliens as the targets.

For the grand finale game, Toy Story Mania! players will ride through Wild West scenes launching virtual suction-cup darts at targets in “Woody’s Rootin’ Tootin’ Shootin’ Gallery.” A final “Woody’s Bonus Roundup” encourages guests to fire their “spring-action shooters” as rapidly as possible at one last super-target for extra points. When scores are tallied, players’ skill levels are identified with the reward of an onscreen “virtual plush.”

The game play of Toy Story Mania! is accompanied by ingenious musical variations of Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got A Friend in Me,” arranged by veteran music editor Bruno Coon, a frequent Newman collaborator, to compliment the games – for example, a military brass band version for “Green Army Man Shoot Camp.” No matter how many times guests return to ride and play, they can be sure every ride-through will be different.

It's the wondrous world of Woody the Cowboy, Buzz Lightyear and Green Army Men. And coming in 2008, guests of Walt Disney World and Disneyland resorts get to ride and play inside an energy-filled toybox of fun with the debut on both coasts of "Toy Story Mania."

Celebrating the Disney-Pixar classics "Toy Story" and "Toy Story II," "Toy Story Mania" will take the interactive ride-game experience to exciting new heights. High-tech yet rooted in classic midway games of skill, "Toy Story Mania" will match the delightful characters of the films with games that best suit their very animated personalities.

Fun for the whole family, "Toy Story Mania" will immerse guests of Disney-MGM Studios and Disney's California Adventure into the "Toy Story" world as never before. Donning 3-D glasses, guests shrink to the size of a toy, and hop into fanciful ride vehicles that travel and twist along a colorful midway-themed route. Upon arriving at each game booth, they will aim for animated targets using their own special on-board "toy cannon."

As guests score points, they will be cheered on by favorite "Toy Story" friends like Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Hamm, Bo Peep and the Little Green Men. Hidden targets garner players extra points and lead to different levels of play. The energy of the characters, the competition with other riders and the hilarious, unpredictable game action make this a unique experience that families will want to try again and again.

The attraction features games that audiences of all ages and skills -- from beginner to serious gamer -- can enjoy. No matter how many times guests return to ride and play, they can be sure every ride-through will be different. Players pair up and sit side-by-side for a friendly competition that delivers an ever-changing variety of targets and surprises.

Forum Threads of Interest

Public previews of TSMM in May
Matt rides Toy Story Mania
Toy Story Mania Opening dates
Tentative soft opening for Toy Story Mania
Making of Toy Story Mania article
Toy Story Mania Vehicle Testing Video
Toy Story Mania opening in June?
Toy Story Mania web page debuts
Can you wait for Toy Story Mania?
Toy Story Mania layout
Disney announces Toy Story Mania
Midway Madness/ Toy Story Mania in the Orlando Sentinel
Midway Madness coming to the Studio soundstages?
Rumor of WWTBAM-PI! closing

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