How does the Toy Story midway ride fit DHS?

[Bairstow]

i think the real question is why isn't the laughing floor in DHS, all things PIXAR should be in PIXARS corner

It's a little too late for that.

 

[seahawk7]

This. An even bigger question would be why Avatar - whose thin story is really all about special movie effects - is going to Animal Kingdom and NOT DHS. The blue folks, the Nav'i, are intelligent humanoids, not animals.

Animal Kingdom always reserved a spot for a futuristic or fantasy animal land that is why they have a dragon as one of the heads posted in front as you enter. But you bring up a good point that Avatar is mainly about the blue people not animals. Really good point, I never looked at it that way.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Not sure I really understand all the talk about what fits where and what doesn't. Where else would it fit would be my first question? Does MK really need another ride?

I'm just happy DHS has a great attraction and it seems to fit the movie theme just fine.

I think worrying too much about where rides fit is slightly nitpicking. Obviously, I'm not saying we should put Tower of Terror in EPCOT, but Toy Story at DHS certainly isn't in the ridiculous category. Disney has a lot of other things to prioritize before they start addressing attraction location. How about some new attractions? I'll take them where I can get them.

 

[morningstar]

It was a Jay Rasulo thing, when he was Parks Chairman in the mid 2000's. He doesn't get theme parks, doesn't have much love for them, and very rarely visited them when he was Chairman. WDI had designed the ride specifically for Paradise Pier in DCA, to slot in on the midway right next to the Games of the Boardwalk midway games. Midway Mania got a custom façade that played up the new Victorian/Edwardian theme of Paradise Pier, and it slots in perfectly in that location because originally that was the only park that was going to get it.

And then it was a huge success and they wanted to give people on the east coast access to it. No Boardwalk-themed park on the east coast - oh well, put it wherever you can make a halfway decent excuse for it. People don't seem to mind too much, judging by the lines.

 

[morningstar]

DHS has been having an identity crisis for a while. It cannot decide if you are just experiencing the goings on in a working movie set or whether you are actually entering the world of said film.

Yeah, the latter is pretty unspecific, because just about any imagined world could be the subject of a movie. It seems to have started off more as the former, but Star Tours was there from the beginning, right? It's clearly themed toward the latter.

The Great Movie Ride is an example of a decent compromise. It's actually mostly oriented toward entering the world of the movies, but it focuses on the classics, so it makes you think of it as a historical look at the movies from the outside.

It's when they pick a theme like Star Wars that the theme seems loose. Of course it's an iconic movie, but it's slated to get more of a focus not because of its status in film history, but because of its immersive setting. And things like Pixar and Cars Land, which get special treatment because they are Disney properties (same goes for Star Wars now). Magic Kingdom should be the park for kids, Disney, animated (even computer animated) movie themes. Animal Kingdom can be the park for animal (even sci-fi and fantasy animal) movie themes. World Showcase can host characters from movies specifically set in foreign countries. Hollywood Studios should be for

1) Behind-the-scenes type attractions
2) Classic, iconic movies that influenced the entire industry
3) Other entertainment productions, such as music, in which Hollywood also plays a large role. That's why Aerosmith and American Idol are appropriate in HS.

 

[George]

DHS is pretty small but they were able to just barely fit it in between Jack Sparrow the Explorer and Darth's Mall! Hooray!

 

[slappy magoo]

Rock n' Rollercoaster "fits just fine" in the studio park itself but it's a terrible fit for the land that it's in; Sunset Strip was an area dedicated to replicating 1940s wartime Hollywood and the Tower of Terror supported this. The modern-day (or rather, late '90s) G-Force Records studio completely clashes with this theme, but thankfully is mostly contained in its own secluded mini-land.

I'll tell you what I wished they had done and could have done - the exact same rollercoaster with an "Old Hollywood" slapstick comedy theme, like, we're taking a tour of a Hollywood sound stage, only to find out that an important film print needs to get across town for a premiere, pronto, and no one's in the mail room so we've been "recruited" to take the studio president's limo across town before it's too late. The scenery, instead of just looking like a highway, would look like a 40s era street we're racing through, trying not to hit anyone. It becomes comical, wacky. Sure, no Aerosmith (I know, shocker!) but as a result, the ride becomes to a greater degree about movies, it feels more timeless.

But I get to work with Bill St. James sometimes and I'd miss hearing his voice in the queue. So never mind.

 

[slappy magoo]

Not sure I really understand all the talk about what fits where and what doesn't. Where else would it fit would be my first question? Does MK really need another ride?

Maybe they could have altered the film portion of the ride to be more Rex-centric and put it in Animal Kingdom's dino-themed midway. It's a part of the park that so barely fits in with the theme of Animal Kingdom, a Rex-centric TSMM actually is a better fit there then DHS. They could have set it up to be like the guests are actually the animals and all the things they're shooting at are shaped like people, some lower species comeuppance.

 

[Mr Toad]

Animal Kingdom always reserved a spot for a futuristic or fantasy animal land that is why they have a dragon as one of the heads posted in front as you enter. But you bring up a good point that Avatar is mainly about the blue people not animals. Really good point, I never looked at it that way.

They are playing up the "save the environment/people" conservation theme. I am still not a fan of this. Too me it still makes little sense...

 

[Chef Mickey]

Maybe they could have altered the film portion of the ride to be more Rex-centric and put it in Animal Kingdom's dino-themed midway. It's a part of the park that so barely fits in with the theme of Animal Kingdom, a Rex-centric TSMM actually is a better fit there then DHS. They could have set it up to be like the guests are actually the animals and all the things they're shooting at are shaped like people, some lower species comeuppance.

They are most likely distancing themselves from "Dinoland" and I'd expect it to go away or be completely re-themed over the next 5 years or so.

 

[seahawk7]

They are most likely distancing themselves from "Dinoland" and I'd expect it to go away or be completely re-themed over the next 5 years or so.

Really? So they would keep the rides but get rid of the carnival stuff?

 

[Chef Mickey]

Really? So they would keep the rides but get rid of the carnival stuff?

I don't have first hand knowledge of this, but I expect something to happen to Dinoland around the time Avatarland is completed. Perhaps completely going away is wishful thinking, but I'd be fine with a complete re-theme/redo and just keep Dinosaur!

It might not be the worst area at WDW, but it's close.

 

[seahawk7]

I don't have first hand knowledge of this, but I expect something to happen to Dinoland around the time Avatarland is completed. Perhaps completely going away is wishful thinking, but I'd be fine with a complete re-theme/redo and just keep Dinosaur!

It might not be the worst area at WDW, but it's close.

You know I forgot Dinosaur was part of that land being kind of separate the way it is. You don't like Primevil Whirl? I can't always ride it due to the spinning but don't you think it's unique?

 

[Matt_Black]

You know I forgot Dinosaur was part of that land being kind of separate the way it is. You don't like Primevil Whirl? I can't always ride it due to the spinning but don't you think it's unique?

I'm positive I've rode coasters similar to PW elsewhere. It's fun, but hardly unique.

 

[cw1982]

I'm positive I've rode coasters similar to PW elsewhere. It's fun, but hardly unique.

Just out of curiosity, where? I'm not doubting you, but I'd never seen that setup before elsewhere. I've seen lots of tilt-a-whirls, but never set on any kind of track like that.

 

[seahawk7]

Just out of curiosity, where? I'm not doubting you, but I'd never seen that setup before elsewhere. I've seen lots of tilt-a-whirls, but never set on any kind of track like that.

I agree with cw1982 that one, I'm not doubting you, and two, where? (any bets my sentence is not grammatically correct?)

 

[seahawk7]

I'm positive I've rode coasters similar to PW elsewhere. It's fun, but hardly unique.

My son just just told me the Goofy Flying Ace ride in California Adventure has the same coaster. He says what the Indians Jones ride in DL is to Dinosaur, The Goofy Flying Ace ride is to PW. (and no he is not studying for his SATs.)

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I knew I had to take some pics of that Crazy Mouse I saw a few weeks ago in that cheap roadside carnival!

 

[cw1982]

I knew I had to take some pics of that Crazy Mouse I saw a few weeks ago in that cheap roadside carnival!

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View attachment 59370

Thanks for sharing! I had no idea... I guess that tells you how often I go to carnivals lol.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Thanks for sharing! I had no idea... I guess that tells you how often I go to carnivals lol.

It was a marvel to behold, to see just how well they managed to make that run-down, dangerous, crappy roadside carnival in a Paris ghetto look and feel exactly like Chester and Hester!

Why spend three dollars in a ghetto when you can get exactly the same for $600 a day in Disney?

[/sarcasm]