Family at Castaway Cay

Family at Castaway Cay

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Toy Story Midway Mania!

Toy Story Midway Mania! (marketed as Toy Story Mania!) is an interactive 4-D theme park attraction, currently located at two Disney theme parks: Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort.


Designed by Walt Disney Imagineering and inspired by Disney·Pixar's Toy Story franchise, the attraction was first unveiled during a press conference at Walt Disney World in January 2007. The Florida version opened officially on May 31, 2008, while the California version officially opened on June 17, 2008. A new version of the attraction will be constructed at Tokyo DisneySea and is expected to open in 2012.

Park guests wear 3-D glasses (Carnival Games Goggles) aboard spinning vehicles that travel through virtual environments based on classic carnival midway games. Ride vehicles seat up to four in back-to-back pairs.

The attraction features five mini-games after a practice round, each of which includes at least one "Easter egg" that can trigger additional targets or gameplay changes. These games include:

  • Pie Throw Practice Booth (pie toss target practice game, a no points introduction)
  • Hamm & Eggs (egg throw game now featuring Buttercup from Toy Story 3)
  • Rex and Trixie's Dino Darts (dart throw game; once Bo Peep's Baa-loon Pop)
  • Green Army Men Shoot Camp (baseball throw / plate breaking game)
  • Buzz Lightyear's Flying Tossers (ring toss game)
  • Woody's Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' Gallery (suction cup shooting game)
Each guest's score is recorded by an onboard display screen as points are acquired with individual toy cannons firing simulated projectiles at virtual targets. Toy Story characters including Woody, Hamm, Buzz Lightyear, Rex and Trixie appear during the attraction's different games.

Similar technology has been used in Disney attractions such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold at DisneyQuest and several Buzz Lightyear attractions. According to Disney, it is the first attraction created simultaneously by Walt Disney Imagineering for two theme parks.

The line at both parks features a large Mr. Potato Head Audio-Animatronics figure that interacts with guests through pre-recorded snippets of dialogue performed by comedian Don Rickles, who voiced the character in the Toy Story films. The sophisticated figure identifies people in the audience, sings and tells jokes.

Only five mini-games can be used at a time at Toy Story Midway Mania! The Following games have been featured as part of Toy Story Midway Mania! in the past, but have been since replaced:

  • Bo Peep's Baaa-loon Pop (dart throw game) Replaced May 21, 2010 with "Rex and Trixie's Dino Darts" (updated with the release of Toy Story 3)
Toy Story Midway Mania! is one of the most technologically sophisticated attractions yet developed by Walt Disney Imagineering, costing an estimated $80 million to design and build.  It marks the company's first use of industrial ethernet for a ride's control system.  Many of the parts for the attraction's control system came from two of Disney's corporate sponsors, Siemens AG and Hewlett-Packard.


Locations
Disney California Adventure: Paradise Pier, beneath the California Screamin' roller coaster, a space formerly occupied by themed midway games and food service locations. The area is designed to resemble a Victorian-era seaside carnival.

Disney's Hollywood Studios: Pixar Place, inside the studios' former soundstages, which were most recently used for the park's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It! attraction. The facade, as well as the surrounding area, resembles Pixar Animation Studios' campus in Emeryville, California.

Tokyo DisneySea: Will be located in the New York area of the American Waterfront. Opening in 2012.

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