[CaraMia]

If anyone knows 100% when the ride opens please post. THanks


Cara

[Daisee]

PalMickey said it is opening today.

[tinkerbelle24]

I heard on the 30th but MBers are riding this week so we will see..

[Ready2Go]

Disney site says Late May.
Walt Disney World Resort Toy Story Mania

[CaraMia]

Thanks! You guys are good! lol

I am thinking about going up before the blackout date starts for the passes. My
ds cant wait to ride it. I dont want to make plans unless I know 100% sure it is open.

[Dopey]

Rowdy (I think) posted that it will open today,

[palmickey]

According to the Dream Team member I talked to yesterday - TODAY IS THE DAY!

[RowdyRAider]

The official opening, as told to us CMs, is May 31st.

[DisFan]

Everyone says something different...lol

[dznygrl]

Everything I've heard as of late says the 15th (from people who are there) - so today hopefully really IS the day!

[nbodyhome]

Official dates can be very different than the date it opens. Like - SSE was open mostly by early December. Grand opening was late February.

I didn't stop by there today - I'd put up a couple of hundred pics from a week ago, it was really fun! I'll get back there again soon. :)

Denise

[palmickey]

It was even on the news yesterday here in FL that it was open along with the new Simpson ride at Universal.

[RowdyRAider]

Open for public viewing, but what we consider "official" opening, usually is for all the press and hoopla, and if we have a special presentation, that too.

[mickeysgirlz]

Saw this online!!

LAKE BUENA VISTA — Is it a ride that's a game or a game that's a ride?

Actually, Toy Story Mania! is both. But you can make your own judgment now that Walt Disney World is opening this garish, 3-D virtual shooting gallery at Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

After Disney unveiled the attraction to the media Wednesday, it opens to the public Saturday.

Disney invested three years and more than $80-million creating the first pair of identical Toy Story Mania! rides that open within days of each other at Walt Disney World here and Disney's California Adventure at Disneyland.

"It's like nothing we've ever done before," said Meg Crofton, president of Walt Disney World.

Housed in a copy of the Pixar Studios soundstage with oversized Green Army Men figures scrambling on the roof, the ride features Toy Story stars Woody, Buzz Lightyear and a realistic 5-foot-tall Mr. Potato Head robot.

It's all built on a scale that shrinks humans to the size of toys stashed under a kid's bed. If you're 5 foot 6, you're only 14 inches tall in a surreal forest of Lincoln Logs, massive Crayolas, Tinkertoys and 13-inch Christmas lights.

The action part bears some resemblance to the Buzz Lightyear ride or Men in Black at Universal Studios Florida. But this time riders aren't shooting laser beams at inanimate aliens hiding on a stage set.

Toy Story Mania! riders shoot virtual eggs, darts, balls and rings at a fast-paced, high-definition cartoon of a midway shooting gallery. The targets are plates, barnyard animals, water balloons and ring-toss hoops. Smells, sound effects, water spritzes and air guns cement the illusion that bits of stuff shot are flying back past your head. LCD screens in each tram keep riders' scores. For practice, the spring-loaded cannons on the lap-bars shoot virtual cream pies at targets held by Woody and Buzz, who end up wearing most of the misses.

The five-minute shoot-'em-up whisks trams past five carnival games. You get 30 seconds at each to rack up points and unscramble the tricks. Small targets are worth more. Hidden Easter eggs are worth big bonuses. But, like cheats on a video game, they become evident only after repeated trips. The last game is the easiest and racks up points the fastest because the designers wanted people to leave smiling.

Disney estimates patrons will shatter 1-million plates daily.

"I think Disney really nailed it," enthused Bob Henley, a vacationing 41-year-old homebuilding executive from Cooksville, Md., after he tripled his score by his third spin.

"The only thing they could do to make it better is make it longer," said his wife, Pam.

The ride is the most sophisticated Disney has built, run by 150 computers — 90 of them inside the trams — linked by a secure wireless network.

"We've done many of the parts before, but we never did all in one," said senior producer Chrissie Allen. "It turned out not as simple as we thought."

It's a tame enough ride so there is no minimum age. But lap-sitting is banned for kids.

For Mr. Potato Head, sardonic comic Don Rickles recorded a 750-word script that includes jokes, four songs and enough descriptive detail about people likely to be in the crowd ("You in the red shirt!") that a hidden operator orders phrases so there seems to be a personal dialogue.

Walt Disney refused to allow carnival games in his theme parks because he thought they made the place look tawdry. But that part of his legacy was relaxed when the company installed midway games at Animal Kingdom. So Toy Story Mania!'s creative team started their work playing every midway game at the Los Angeles County Fair in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

"I hadn't been there in years," said Lori Coltrin, Toy Story Mania! art director. "Now I don't miss it."

Mark Albright can be reached at albright@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8252.

[palmickey]

Originally Posted by RowdyRAider

Open for public viewing, but what we consider "official" opening, usually is for all the press and hoopla, and if we have a special presentation, that too.

I am sure that there is an "Official" date, that is why I was so surprised when they told us that they had just picked the "First Official Family" to ride it on that next day when they opened the ride. I would have thought there would have been more press about it. Then I did see it on the local news the day that it opened. I just hope that everyone that was there when I was got a chance to ride it "Officially" open or not.