Toy Story Playland Shareholders Club Event

[MichWolv]

On September 3, members of the EuroDisney Shareholders Club were invited to a free event at Walt Disney Studios Paris to celebrate the opening of Toy Story Playland. The event went from 8:30-11:30 pm. Six attractions were open - RC Racer, Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin, Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop, Tower of Terror, Cars Race Rally and Crush's Coaster.

Although I live in the Chicago area, I happened to be in London for meetings that ended at noon that day, so a quick Eurostar ride to Paris and an RER out to Disneyland Paris got me there in plenty of time, even with a stop at my hotel (Ibis Val d'Europe) to change.

The event itself was handled well. The gates opened precisely at 8:30, and although only about 1/3 of the park was open, there weren't so many people that it was overcrowded. There were no special events or anything going on, but since it was a free event, I didn't expect anything. The one counter service restaurant in the park was open offering 15% off.

I stayed the whole 3 hours, and during that time, I rode each attraction once, walked around the new land for a good long time taking in the atmosphere, grabbed dinner, and took 2 more rides on Crush's Coaster.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures. I had only my iPhone 3GS with me, so there are limitations.

 

[MichWolv]

The atmopshere in Toy Story Playland is very good. It's basically themed as if you are shrunken down to size of a toy soldier, and wander into Andy's backyard. Since you're the size of a green army man, Buzz Lightyear is huge!

The theming continues in every square inch/centimetre of the land, with Toy Story toys, Pixar icons, and other toys strewn about the backyard.

Although the land isn't all that large, the theming is truly all-encompassing and immersive and does give you that happy Disney magic feeling.

 

[MichWolv]

The attractions in Toy Story Playland are very well-themed also, including the queues, which have familiar characters in whimsical settings, and other toys as well (the line for Slinky Dog is made of Lincoln Logs, for example).

Unfortunately, the quality of the attractions leaves something to be desired. They are essentially larger-scale, better built travelling carnival rides. Even worse, they load incredibly slow, holding only 35-50 people per cycle. Lines for these rides will be excessively long even with light crowds, and none of them are worth a line longer than 10 minutes.

First up, RC Racer. You ride in a large racing car with restraints. The car moves forward and back in a semi-circle. This is the best of the rides, and does have a substantive thrill element to it.

RC greets you.

Racing themed queue

RC uses Dinoco gas!

The ride vehicle

 

[MichWolv]

Next, Toy Soldier Parachute Drop. The queue theming is essentially a toy soldier army base. The soldiers are everywhere, doing various tasks, and they do talk (in English and French) to keep the atmosphere up.

The ride is a standard parachute drop. Seating, inexplicably is 3 across on each side (facing back to back) of six parachutes, for a maximum capacity of 36 per cycle that will rarely be reached unless they have a single riders line, because of the stupid 3 across seating. I have nothing good to say about this ride, except that I rode with a couple of cute German girls (not pictured).

 

[MichWolv]

Finally, Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin. Again, the queue is really nicely done. You enter through a doghouse made of Lincoln Logs, and the covered part of the queue is themed as the box to a Slinky Dog board game.

the ride itself is essentially a rollercoaster train that goes up and down and around in a circle for a couple minutes. Imagine the magic carpets without being able to change the altitude or rock the carpet. In other words, it isn't worth your time.

The most fun thing about the attraction was the talking Rex at the exit.

 

[MichWolv]

The rest of the night was rides on the other attractions -- nothing new there. Crush's Coaster is still amongst the best Disney thrill rides. The theming is great, and the coaster is unique and thrilling enough for teens, while not being too rough for everybody else. This is a winner. I tried to snap to pics while riding. Not much came out, except this nice shot of Bruce, how pops out of the wall just as get to the top of the lift hill and get sent careening around the track.

Also rode Cars Race Rally and got a couple of decent shots of the Radiator Springs theming.

Overall, the evening was fun, and I'm very glad I went. Toy Story Playland is nice to walk around in, and RC Racer is worth a short line, but the others can be skipped.

One more thing to note. I took a walk out the back of Toy Story Playland (back exit is through the monkeys' barrell), which sends to a very French-looking path the leads back towards the front of the park in one direction, and to what is now a dead end in the other. This path is lined with benches that have Chef Remy in the iron work. In short, it seems clear, as others have already said, that a Ratatoullie ride/land would be coming to the park at the other end of this path.