Toy Story Midway Mania! Preview

Toy Story Midway Mania! at Disney's Hollywood Studios was open over this past weekend for Annual Passholder previews. Lines for the long-anticipated interactive dark ride were still rather lengthy, as the ride's Fastpass system wasn't running, but the crowd was enthusiastic nonetheless. Below is our description and experiences of the ride; be warned that there may be some spoilers ahead, although there are no pictures of the ride itself.

Welcome to Pixar Studios East.

The first thing one notices before boarding Toy Story Mania! is the terrific exterior of the building. Modeled after Pixar Studio's headquarters in Emeryville, CA, the new area looks great, from the look of the bricks hand-picked by Apple CEO Steve Jobs for the real Pixar to the wonderful brushed metal lettering on the buildings. Of course, this is WDW, so toys such as Barrel of Monkeys and green army men are found outside, with the monkeys stretched out above guests' heads, while the army men hold up a Scrabble board/sign across from the ride's entrance.

Once inside, the queue winds past tons of larger-than-life toys, as if one was inside Andy's toy chest. Details abound in this area, but the real spotlight is on Mr. Potato Head, who serves as a kind of MC for the proceedings in line. This advanced audioanimatronic figure must be seen to be believed, as its motion is both fluid and realistic. (Just wait until he pulls out his own ear!) The line heads past a 3D glasses pick-up station, and up a set of stairs, where guests get their first glimpse of the boarding area.

The ride vehicles run on a somewhat standard dark ride track, but instead of the traditional face-forward setup, each vehicle actually has two cars on it, separated by a distance of five feet or so. Each car has four seats, with two facing either direction. During the ride, the cars slide into position in an open gaming area, with four screens to correspond with the four sets of riders.

The games themselves are an absolute blast, with a variety of projectiles being used by the riders to knock over, bust, or hit targets scattered across the screen, all worth various points. While the games are going on, "4D" effects, such as bubbles, sprays of water, and blasts of air are used to make the games feel that much more real; to be quite honest, if you're really focused on getting a high score, you'll barely notice them. At the end of each round you get a tally of your points so far, as well as an accuracy percentage, and if the ride needs more time before moving you to the next game, the game will reappear, allowing you to practice your shooting further, but without the benefit of added points. At the end, top scores from throughout the day are listed.

Overall, the ride is really impressive, and provides the Studios with something the park was sorely missing — that is, a family-oriented ride which parents can enjoy with their children. That said, it's more of a C-ticket ride with E-ticket production, rather than a full-on E-ticket like the park's larger, more intense rides. That said, the ride is undoubtedly a winner, and worth at least one, if not multiple rides on your next trip to the park.

Disney has posted a list of Fun Facts about the ride, which are listed below.

Toy Story Mania! Fun Facts:

Each ride vehicle weighs as much as 8,580 Woody dolls.

It would take 5,026 toy soldiers lined up end-to-end to make up the total track length.

Toy Story Mania! is the first time that Walt Disney Imagineering is creating an attraction for two Disney Parks simultaneously.

It has been estimated that, each day, guests may break over one million virtual plates using the spring-action shooters.

Riders in the Sky, the award-winning group that wrote the songs that Mr. Potato Head performs as part of the attraction, is the same group that wrote "Woody's Roundup" for the "Toy Story" feature films.

This is the first attraction that Walt Disney Imagineering designed where the Imagineers had to wear 3-D glasses to art direct all the black-light paint elements.

The murals located in the load area at Disney's Hollywood Studios are the largest murals painted since Epcot was built.

In order to create a show that responds not only to every pull of a guest's spring-action shooter but also every move their midway tram makes, there are more than 150 computers communicating over multiple networks throughout the attraction.

At Toy Story Mania!, every guest gets to experience life at the size of a toy. So in Andy's room, a 5 foot 6 inch person will feel about 14" tall.

More time was spent programming Mr. Potato Head than for any other Audio-Animatronics figure ever created by Walt Disney Imagineering.

Mr. Potato Head will be able to say more lines of dialogue than any Audio-Animatronics figure ever created by Walt Disney Imagineering.

"It's a ride that's a game. It's a game that's a ride," says Mr. Potato Head to queuing guests. "Step right up and see what's inside."

The Mr. Potato Head Audio-Animatronics figure is the first time that an Audio-Animatronics figure can remove a body part and re-attach it (in the case of his ear).

The Mr. Potato Head Audio-Animatronics figure has new, highly expressive and animated eyes that can look directly at a particular guest in the queue when speaking to him/her.

Mr. Potato Head marks the first Audio-Animatronics figure whose mouth appears to form words and vowel sounds.

In each of the Toy Story Mania! games, there is at least one "easter egg" -- targets that can trigger the appearance of bonus high-value targets and other changes in the scene.

Toy Story Mania! is the first time that Woody and Buzz Lightyear (along with some of their friends) from the Disney-Pixar "Toy Story" films appear together in a ride-through attraction.

Watch for loose change in the prize scene -- Hamm is carrying more than $6 in coins when his cork pops.