DHS Toy Story Land expansion announced for Disney's Hollywood Studios

[TrainsOfDisney]

I applaud you for actually bothering to actually visit anything in WDSP other than Tower of Terror.

I actually really liked that park! Crush is fun, the magic carpets looks lovely at night, the live shows were great, ratatouille area is lovely, Avengers campus is well done and felt more complete then DCA’s, and then there is…… CATASTROPHE CANYON!!! I went on it 4 or 5 times - was so happy! Haha

 

[HMF]

I actually really liked that park! Crush is fun, the magic carpets looks lovely at night, the live shows were great, ratatouille area is lovely, Avengers campus is well done and felt more complete then DCA’s, and then there is…… CATASTROPHE CANYON!!! I went on it 4 or 5 times - was so happy! Haha

I only went there to ride Tower. Then again, I had a one-day park hopper so I didn't have much of a choice.

 

[Casper Gutman]

TSL in Paris may not have Midway Mania, but there's an equivalent attraction elsewhere in the park with Webslingers

And Slinky Dog may not be a coaster, but another one based on a Pixar movie is also not exactly far away either

Is it fair to say the HKDL version is better because I can skip it on the way to Mystic Manor?

That's the problem with comparing these land's in a vacuum, vs what do they bring to their respective parks.

TSL at WDSP was cheap filler, and it shows, but is neither a major selling point or defining feature of the park in the same way it has become for the attraction starved DHS.

And DHS already had Midway Mania before hand, which makes the amount of space taken up for the 2 new rides and dining options even more shocking. It wasn't a huge net gain for a park that really needed something more substantial.

You nailed it here - MGM now feels like it’s composed of old Hollywood, Star Wars, and Toy Story in more-or-less equal measure, and one third of that makeup is awful and feels cheap.

 

[HauntedPirate]

I applaud you for actually bothering to actually visit anything in WDSP other than Tower of Terror.

The Rat area is exceptional. On topic - TSL there is underbuilt but still can be fun. RC Racers in the rain is an interesting experience.

I'm puzzled by the baby steps they continue to take with TSL. A seating area here, a popcorn building there. Maybe it should have been, I don't know... designed better from the start?

 

[WorldExplorer]

The Rat area is exceptional. On topic - TSL there is underbuilt but still can be fun. RC Racers in the rain is an interesting experience.

I'm puzzled by the baby steps they continue to take with TSL. A seating area here, a popcorn building there. Maybe it should have been, I don't know... designed better from the start?

I'm confused that Woody's Lunchbox clearly does not have enough seating, they build slightly more seating but it's still not enough and they know it because they're still doing the standing table nonsense, then immediately after adding slightly more seating but not enough they build a whole other food stand to add to the number of people who want to sit.

It's like they had 50. They needed 100. They added 20 to make 70. Now they need 120. Teeny tiny baby step forward, one step back.

 

[Touchdown]

TSL also going nowhere because 3 out of the 4 rides in that park geared towards young ones are in that section. Everything else besides MMRR has a high height limit and/or scares the pants off little ones (which will not change with Monsters Land as it’s canonically during the first movie.)

 

[HMF]

it’s the best version of bad.

Should be the slogan for the parks division.

 

[HMF]

Also a huge waste of space. They could probably build an E and a D ticket along with a restaurant and shopping on that land. I've advocated for replacing Jungle Cruise here!

I don't think it's an especially good attraction, though -- for someone who loves it and think it's one of the best rides at the resort, then it's fine that it's huge. It essentially needs the size to function the way it's supposed to function; the scale is part of it. It wouldn't have the same feel if it was smaller. Kiliminjaro Safaris is also massive but I think it's tremendous and wouldn't want it closed.

As long as it's still at Disneyland, mutilating classic Magic Kingdom attractions is perfectly acceptable is apparently the philosophy these days.

 

[HMF]

Not to me.

It didn't used to be but if you can explain to me what the overall theme of DHS right now other than a dumping ground for random ideas that don't fit anywhere else is, I owe you a coke.

 

[HMF]

What is your assertion based on?

Mostly because attractions where Cast are supposed to actually interact with guests (Great Movie Ride being the most obvious example) are an endangered species because you have to pay people.

 

[jah4955]

As long as it's still at Disneyland, mutilating classic Magic Kingdom attractions is perfectly acceptable is apparently the philosophy these days.

For OVER a quarter century I kept trying and trying to dismiss that thought...until TSI made me realize you are almost-definitely 100% right.

 

[jah4955]

It didn't used to be but if you can explain to me what the overall theme of DHS right now other than a dumping ground for random ideas that don't fit anywhere else is, I owe you a coke.

yet they didn't think to dump CarsLand in HS?

 

[HauntedPirate]

yet they didn't think to dump CarsLand in HS?

Consistency/cohesiveness and theme are not barriers to the bad ideas pushed out by Burbank.

 

[Purduevian]

One thing I will say somewhat in defense of TSL at DHS is that roller coasters often take up a ton of space. Slinky Dog Dash is basically the same size as Rise of the Resistance (one of the reasons I don't love Disney's pivot towards building more coasters!), and I don't think anyone thinks Slinky is a more impressive ride than Rise.

SDD doesn't just take up a ton of space for a theme park ride... it takes a ton of room for a rollercoaster in general... it takes up more room than Everest or big thunder.

I think its really just the coaster layout... its HUGE for the amount of ride it is... It eats up ~185,000sqft (if you include what it blocks off from expansion)
View attachment 870914
For Reference Big thunder takes up ~105,000sqft.
View attachment 870916
Everest takes up ~165,000sqft
View attachment 870918
Here is Everest (correct scale, but no shed) plopped in Toy story land instead of slinky I also had to push bad Alien... Slinky is great... but its no Everest
View attachment 870922

 

[UNCgolf]

SDD doesn't just take up a ton of space for a theme park ride... it takes a ton of room for a rollercoaster in general... it takes up more room than Everest or big thunder.

It's a lot smaller than Hagrid's though, isn't it?

I think coasters have a bigger problem with sprawl when there's a specific goal to not make them too tall. Which is the right move in some cases (you aren't going to build a family coaster that's 150 feet in the air, and there are also major sight line/theming problems), but still.

Regardless, SDD is definitely way too large for what it offers.

 

[Purduevian]

It's a lot smaller than Hagrid's though, isn't it?

I think coasters have a bigger problem with sprawl when there's a specific goal to not make them too tall. Which is the right move in some cases (you aren't going to build a family coaster that's 150 feet in the air, and there are also major sight line/theming problems), but still.

Regardless, SDD is definitely way too large for what it offers.

I have Hagrids at an incredible 250,000sqft... but is a much higher quality coaster than SDD.

Something like "Jet Rescue" in Australia gives a similar experience to SDD on a much smaller footprint.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure also replaced two coaster, and the design team was specifically instructed to fill all of the site. They also told the naming team to come up with something long enough for two rides.

 

[Centauri Space Station]

It didn't used to be but if you can explain to me what the overall theme of DHS right now other than a dumping ground for random ideas that don't fit anywhere else is, I owe you a coke.

Easily. The front is built on classic hollywood, “the hollywood that never was”. That’s still derived from the 89 version of MGM with hollywood and sunset blvd, echo lake, the brown derby, tower of terror, chinese theatre, 50s prime time stage shows, etc.

The back used to be the working studio portion, that was supposed to showcase working on productions and filming shows. That became obsolete by 95 when most production shut down and was just themed as a behind the scenes look and not an actual one. Things like RNRC, who wants to be a millionaire, slowly chipping away at the backlot tour, toy story mania made this theme more muddled. Finally we come to the step inside world of movies era where you enter worlds of Star wars, toy story, soon monsters inc as well.

So it’s classic hollywood in the front and entering the movies in the back.

 

[HMF]

For OVER a quarter century I kept trying and trying to dismiss that thought...until TSI made me realize you are almost-definitely 100% right.

Oh, it's common knowledge. WDI has literally actually made legitimate changes to attractions at Magic Kingdom that are also in Disneyland to make our version more similar to the DL version. In this article I just point out the examples at just The Haunted Mansion.

The Unnecessary Changes To Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion.

How Imagineers destroyed the unique charm of Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion.

vocal.media

 

[HMF]

Easily. The front is built on classic hollywood, “the hollywood that never was”. That’s still derived from the 89 version of MGM with hollywood and sunset blvd, echo lake, the brown derby, tower of terror, chinese theatre, 50s prime time stage shows, etc.

The back used to be the working studio portion, that was supposed to showcase working on productions and filming shows. That became obsolete by 95 when most production shut down and was just themed as a behind the scenes look and not an actual one. Things like RNRC, who wants to be a millionaire, slowly chipping away at the backlot tour, toy story mania made this theme more muddled. Finally we come to the step inside world of movies era where you enter worlds of Star wars, toy story, soon monsters inc as well.

So it’s classic hollywood in the front and entering the movies in the back.

How do these things connect together though what is the overall statement. I would buy your reading if the parks thesis statement The Great Movie Ride still existed but as we know it is now the Runaway Railway so what is the unified theme of the entire park at this point other than a convenient place to dump ideas that won't fit anywhere else?