Welcome back to our walk through Toy Story Playland at the Walt Disney Studios. After a few meters on the path leading into the new area on which we started in the second part of our series the bamboo moves back on the left side to make room for first attraction: Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop. The marquee for the attraction is actually a plastic toy plane propped up next to the walkway leading toward the twoer, with the attraction’s name painted on the undersides of its two wings. Guests passing by this unique marquee and then turning around will be able to see that Andy has scrawled his name on the side of the plane in the same writing which he already used on the underside of Woody’s boot.

Since an army with just one plane would be a bit small Andy also brought in a second plane – a small plane with a wind up air-screw. In fact the halfway wound up elastic band that would propell the plane into the air can be seen in this toy, which has been propped up right next to the first plane as if ready to start. In front of the two planes two large benches have been placed for those who do not want to join the Toy Soldiers and fellow guests on their parachuting mission. Both benches are actually (fittingly oversized) curved segments of a wooden toy-train track. But don’t even think to lift them up … obviously they are out of concrete and way to heavy. Now further toward the attraction…

Following the side path leading toward the entrance to the queue line of the attraction guests will pass by the first “official” photo opportunity of Toy Story Playland: a painted backdrop with an oversized plastic parachute. Here guests will be able to take a photo to give the impression of gliding down on a parachute – without having to fear any heights … and without any height restrictions.

Afterall those with fears of heights most probably will refrain from going on the actual ride. This unfortunately means they will miss out on the best view of the Toy Story Playland that can be gained from an elevated point of sight (at least if seated facing further into Toy Story Playland). Besides guests with fear of heights some young guests are excluded from the fun as well. Due to the rides nature unfortunately a minimum height requirement of 81 cm had to be put in place. An information board also featuring a digital waiting time sign informs guests about this restriction before entering the queue. A close look at the sign also reveals the name of the training area for the Toy Soldiers that guest will enter: Fort Emery. This name is a reference to Emeryville, home of the Pixar animation studios, creators of the Toy Story series together with Disney.

Also the information board once again shows how Andy is cleveryl using every day household items to set up the world for his toys – respectively how Imagineering is cleverly giving the impression: the white rings on the board are supposed to resemble paste-on rings used to strengthen holes in paper before filing it, which Andy here used to hold his sign up.

But lets move further down the walkway past the already mentioned photo set-up. Before entering the queue guests pass a small green guard house on their right, bordering the landing zone of the ride. Here the first cast member will be stationed, the so called “greeter”. He welcomes guests to the attraction, answers questions and will measure the youngest guests before they join the line. Right opposite of the guard house the famous baby monitor has been placed as known from the first movie with one of the green army men / toy soldiers right next to it. Via the baby monitor he communicates with the other toy soldiers to make sure that the toys are not surprised by Andy who might come back out into the backyard. As the communication plays in English and French the majority of guests will be able to understand it.

The baby monitor is placed right before the entrance of the queue area so guests can easily approach it for photos without entering the line, while those in the first part of the line are still entertained by the communication. Speaking of the line: its first part is outdoors but already under a green metal cover. From this part of the line guests can also watch the action taking place at the tower. At its far end the line goes past a green plastic jeep which one of the toy soldiers is just about to prop up. Then it is finally time for the line to enter into the large green hangar that has been spotted over the construction fence already plenty of times.

Inside the hangar the line passes by several scenes created with oversized plastic army toys (such as a writing desk, storage areas etc.) and featuring several toy soldiers as well. As toy hangars certainly do not feature a too detailed interior everything is rather simple looking here. However, to achieve this look Imagineering went to length. For example all electrical wiring as well as the ducts for the air conditioning of the hangar are hidden in the structures sandwich wall (i.e. between the interior and the exterior walls / roof of the structure).

Before finally being allowed to take a seat under one of the six parachutes guests pass the control booth (also located inside the hangar) and are grouped by the rides second cast member (the so called “grouper”) into groups of 36 guests – as the ride offers 36 seats. Plans of the operations department currently call for a total of four cast members for regular operations of the Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop. These four are: the greeter and the grouper (already mentioned), one cast member in the control booth and a final cast member positioned in a guard house at the actual launch area of the ride, opposite of the control booth. The latter two cast members will also “load” guests on the parachutes, check that all safety measures are engaged and after the ride will unload the attraction again (similar to how it is handled at Dumbo, Orbitron and The Flying Carpets over Agrabah). To better cope with the expected guest numbers and to get a better feeling for the ride during the first time of operation a fifth cast member will occassionally be on-site as well – the so called “roamer” who roams around the attraction’s area filling in whereever needed.

But let’s finally look at the actual ride. Well, the top of the tower and the parachutes have been spotted across the construction fence plenty of times already, a couple of times even during tests. However, a close up shows that on the sides of the seating configuration (two rows of three guests each back to back per parachute) some extra toy-like, plastic decorations can be spotted. The future landing and launching zone was just painted in the trademark dark green of the toy soldiers at the end of last week. White stars in a circle indicating the landing zones for each parachute will be added later on as well as some decoration / themeing elements separating the landing zones for each parachute. In addition the parachutes will be illuminated from below by LED-lights in the floor that are already in place.

All parachutes will be raised and then droped at the same time, with each ride experience lasting a bit more than 60 seconds as there is not one but at least two drops. Sarge (the sergeant of Andy’s Green Army Men) has positioned himself on a small army guard tower next to the landing zone and his controling everthing. He also lets guests know when the prepare for their drop by calling out the countdown – as well as additional orders to make sure that the mission to look out for Andy and other humans from high in the air is executed properly. Sarge is talking in English and French, featuring the original voice talent from the movie, i.e. R. Lee Ermey in English.

So much about the first attraction guests encounter when entering Toy Story Playland throught the front entrance. Come back tomorrow, Wednesday, for part four of the ongoing series, when we visit the star of Slinky Dog ZigZag Spin and explore his new home.

This entry was posted by Dirk on Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 at 9:59 am and is filed under Walt Disney Studios. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.