Opinion: Toy Story Land's grand opening will be a disaster

[Flynnwriter]

This “land” will underwhelm and disappoint- it’s be value engineered to remove all rock work, and its cornerstone attraction is 10 years old. The 2 new ones are off the shelf amusement park rides with lots of props.

The capacity will also be a problem- a coaster and aground ride. It will be fast pass only type of land... and how about a themed refill service restaurant? Come on, this park lacks so many things and this land isn’t the fix.

 

[jakeman]

Dont forget the hard core fans who will undoubtedly find the most infinitesimal disruption in the linear timeline of the land vs the Star Wars movies and deem it a disaster.

Maybe other forums. We'll just be angry that it's popular and use the crowds as an example of why The Last Jedi was terrible. Don't ask me how. That's above my paygrade.

This “land” will underwhelm and disappoint- it’s be value engineered to remove all rock work, and its cornerstone attraction is 10 years old. The 2 new ones are off the shelf amusement park rides with lots of props.

The capacity will also be a problem- a coaster and aground ride. It will be fast pass only type of land... and how about a themed refill service restaurant? Come on, this park lacks so many things and this land isn’t the fix.

Dang...someone should tell Disney.

Pretty sure all of their marketing for Toy Story Land has been centered around the tagline: "See! We fixed it!"

 

[Ismael Flores]

You have some good points but Disney doesn’t build these lands for opening day or week success.

These lands are built to help increase revenue and attendance for many years. They are long term investments and it’s succes won’t be determined for a few years. People now a days have fixated in opening day and weekend crowds as a measure for success but I don’t believe Disney sees it that way.
Obviously it is nice to have bragging right of a huge opening But it means nothing if revenue does not show an uptick
I also don’t agree with the statement that this land is aim at little kids. Toy story is a very well known IP that connects with the very young and a large group of young adults and that alone helps in making it appealing to a large group of people.

Attraction do not have to be excessively thrilling to attract crowds. Carsland has two spinning things rides and does a fine job in attracting guests from all ages and the height requirements in RSR does not deter families with young children from enjoying the land. The same should be with this addition.

 

[beckydu5]

Totally agree. People used to leave their little ones with someone. Then when they were older bring them. Although they will never do it due to public backlash they should charge infants just to cut down on it. Trust me just to get that selfie of your 1 year old near the castle they are going to be tired, sunburnt, hungry, getting bumped into in the stroller, woken when they are trying to sleep. And most rides someone will have to not ride because of height restrictions

I disagree about bringing children to WDW. I brought my kids at every age. My favorite memory is when we went and the kids were 6, 3 and 6 weeks. I love watching my husband with the six and three-year-old. While I rested loving my six week old. It was very relaxing. But it was also 25 years ago when the crowds weren’t crazy and the people are more polite.

 

[MouseMelly]

I disagree about bringing children to WDW. I brought my kids at every age. My favorite memory is when we went and the kids were 6, 3 and 6 weeks. I love watching my husband with the six and three-year-old. While I rested loving my six week old. It was very relaxing. But it was also 25 years ago when the crowds weren’t crazy and the people are more polite.

I agree. I’ve taken my kids at all ages. I don’t “throw away” my memories just because they don’t remember them. It’s all special to me. Plus, seeing the wonder of the castle or characters in the eyes of a 2yo is beyond priceless. I’m happy being “that mom”

 

[eliza61nyc]

Dont forget the hard core fans who will undoubtedly find the most infinitesimal disruption in the linear timeline of the land vs the Star Wars movies and deem it a disaster.

Lol unfortunately those will be rejected. It's like on the tv show "The Big Bang theory ", those guys, the ones who go to comic con and dress up and get into arguments over starwars vs star trek are usually just smiled at then back away slowly from.

 

[wdisney9000]

Maybe other forums. We'll just be angry that it's popular and use the crowds as an example of why The Last Jedi was terrible. Don't ask me how. That's above my paygrade.

I'm still scratching my head why some people are so upset about Last Jedi. Only thing I can guess is that they wanted ALL the answers to Reys background or Luke to start a new Jedi school or something like that. Seems they don't realize that there are still more movies coming and they've get their answers. Same for Infinity War. Some people are upset about the ending. As if all the Avengers who disappeared are gone forever.

 

[Crazymikelee]

I would have loved to see a ride where the vehicle is RC car and you have to thwart the evil plans of Sid, Stinky Pete, or Lotso. It would have to have cameo's by all of our favorite toys and some thrills included (fast turns and darkness like Indiana Jones or Dinosaur). I would even be satisfied with screens instead of animatronic figures.

 

[Angel Ariel]

My issue with Toy Story Land is that it seems like it was an afterthought decision, not the main decision. It feels like they knew they wanted to make SW:GE, how many crowds that was going to bring in and knew they needed *something* more in DHS before SW:GE opens....so we get TSL. Rather than getting TSL for TSL's sake. Seeing how the concept art was scaled back along the way doesn't instill much confidence either. Going back to someone else's comment about the success not being able to be determined for a few years...the fact that SW:GE is opening a year later is going to skew any data one could take on the individual success of TSL. There are still relatively few attractions in DHS compared to MK, and there's about to be a whole ton more people going there...they need some place to go, and they'll go to TSL. Does that mean TSL is successful on its own, separate from SW:GE? I don't think TSL would be a huge long-term draw on its own - given that the headliner is 10 years old already - but, with SW:GE, it certainly will be. SW:GE would be a bit hit regardless, but will certainly be helped by having TSL to disperse the crowds.

 

[MisterPenguin]

My issue with Toy Story Land is that it seems like it was an afterthought decision, not the main decision. It feels like they knew they wanted to make SW:GE, how many crowds that was going to bring in and knew they needed *something* more in DHS before SW:GE opens....so we get TSL. Rather than getting TSL for TSL's sake.

That's how C and D Ticket rides work. They're not meant to be headliners, they're meant to be fillers. WDW added fillers and you're dinging them for not being headliners.

It's like dinging a hamburger for being an awful steak.

 

[Angel Ariel]

That's how C and D Ticket rides work. They're not meant to be headliners, they're meant to be fillers. WDW added fillers and you're dinging them for not being headliners.

It's like dinging a hamburger for being and awful steak.

Im not expecting all of the rides to be headliners, but the fact that both new rides are just c and d rides is what makes this land feel like the *land* is really filler, which is what I was getting at. If they had done this without star wars coming soon after, I think you would have seen a different TSL.

ETA: Fantasyland doesn't feel like filler, even though it is also primarily C and D rides. Perhaps it's that there are so many more rides in FL that makes the difference, I don't know.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Serious and real question:
If you went for a more authentic Chinese food(correct, I'm not talking Panad Express here) and the staff were native Colombian or from Sudan would you find that restaurant credible? I would not at face value, even though there is a chance that it could pump out some damn tasty offerings.
Goes to credibility/believability

Me thinks you have too much free time on your hands...

 

[DisneyDoctor]

Nice analogy.

But is Disney marketing this as a Five Guys when it's putting in a McDonald's?

I don't get that feeling. Obviously this is my opinion and people, feel free to disagree (I'm actually really curious what everyone else thinks), but I feel that Pandora was marketed more heavily than TSL. Granted, Pandora came with FoP. But, if Disney were marketing TSL as something more than it projects to be, I'd expect marketing more similar to Pandora's. Just my 0.02.

Btw, I love Five Guys. Those fries though.

 

[eliza61nyc]

I don't get that feeling. Obviously this is my opinion and people, feel free to disagree (I'm actually really curious what everyone else thinks), but I feel that Pandora was marketed more heavily than TSL. Granted, Pandora came with FoP. But, if Disney were marketing TSL as something more than it projects to be, I'd expect marketing more similar to Pandora's. Just my 0.02.

Btw, I love Five Guys. Those fries though.

ok now I'm hungry....

I really haven't seen any advertising on TSL at all. It seems to me that all the Disney commercials I see seem to be the "generic" have a magical time type of thing where you see a bit of every thing.

 

[Disone]

The only folks who will consider SWL a failure will be those without FP+ who will have to spend a week* in line to ride anything.

*Used under license from the American Society of Social Hyperbole Officers - Liaison Element Exception #18-21489

Props for the underscore. I like posts like this. Sometimes we do take ourselves far too seriously on this forum. Sadly it also very amusing, I'm fairly confident that without that Asterix surely somebody would have countered your week-long time frame statement.

 

[Dunston]

Just like anything else new at WDW, it's going to be hugely popular. Seven Dwarfs and Avatar are proof that the parks have gone for so long without newly built rides that people will wait for hours to experience something new.

 

[spock8113]

It'll open, they'll be long lines for the two rides and after a week the furor will die down but the lines probably won't.......'cuz it's new.
It just won't hold people for as long as they'd like to spread out the crowds. SWL along with TSL will somewhat spread out the crowd loads.
Is it me or does Slinky Dog look a little short for a coaster (yeah, I know, it's for kids)?

 

[DarthVader]

It just won't hold people for as long as they'd like to spread out the crowds.

I'm not so sure about that. Just look at how crowed Pandora is, and its been open for almost a year now. I was at WDW this past April and both rides were consistently > 2 hours of wait time.

I think there's more to Toy Story Land, and when you couple Star Wars opening up later this year, it will have a net effect of being popular in the foreseeable future.

 

[geekza]

Is it me or does Slinky Dog look a little short for a coaster (yeah, I know, it's for kids)?

I think you kind of answered your own question. Since it was built primarily as something younger kids can go on, many of them will have never ridden any kind of coaster attraction before and may be hesitant to do so. A lot of times, these tamer coasters are on the shorter side so that the kids who absolutely end up terrified and hating it won't deafen their parents with screams for too long and the ones who enjoy it are given just enough of a taste of what a coaster is like to make them want to ride more of them.

I guess it seems like a contradiction, but while I'm okay with SD being rather short, I feel like 7DMT should have been longer. Probably because the coaster part of it is super short in the beginning before slowing down for the mine and then super short in the end. At that point, why even make it a coaster? I know it was originally designed to be much longer and was scaled down for budgetary reasons, but I guess that's why I'll always think of it as a missed opportunity, especially since it was the cause of the demise of a classic dark ride.

 

[Andrew C]

I've never seen a mine cart that fits 10 people. A more realistic mine cart fits two-four people.
View attachment 284395

good thing the mine carts in the 7DMT attraction fit 4 people...phew...crisis averted.