Disneyland Resort Paris and the Belgian town Blankenberge are working together to bring the Disneyland Paris theme park to the seaside. How? By building a replica of the park and both the Disney and Pixar characters on the beach by using sand during the “sand sculpture festival”.
For more information on the event, the theme and what to expect, follow our sister blog Mousekingdom. We will be there to see the result and will bring full coverage of the festival on the mousekingdom blog too.
The Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop, the maybe most popular attraction of the Toy Story Playland with guests of all ages, is missing a parachute. Luckily it is none of the parachutes that double as ride vehicles (even so one row was closed earlier during the past weekend due to a technical problem). (more…)
When the Toy Story Playland opened in the late summer of 2011 a small-scale RC Racer on a piece of race track was found next to the queue building of the RC Racer attraction to function as a photo set. Guests could step inside and get their photo taken. However, after a few days the set-up was blocked off after children started climbing all over it and management identified the set-piece as a safety risk. Soon it was gone leaving a rather odd open space in the Toy Story Playland. The RC Racer car resurfaced earlier this year as decoration along the Studio Tram Tour track.
And now, finally, a replacement has made its way into the Toy Story Playland. The new photo location can be seen on the right. It has gone in the exact same spot as the original photo set. Guests can now step into the blister package of an RC Racer toy to get their photo taken as if they were part of the add-ons coming with the remote control car.
For most female guests in any public space a line for an attraction is very often only half as bad as that really dreaded line … the line at the toilettes. Even on busy days the Disneyland Park rarely features these lines thanks to numerous rest room facilities that were placed across all lands. The Walt Disney Studios had a bit of a problem with this when it opened but solved it early on by adding the facilities next to the exit / shop of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror even prior the start of the construction for the tower.
However, when the Toy Story Playland was announced without any additional rest room facilities fans were (mildly said) surprised since the whole Toon Studio already had no dedicated rest room facilities. Now that the new area is in regular operation and has turned out to attract large crowds it becomes obvious that addition rest room facilities would not only have been a good idea but are direly needed. (more…)
The ride vehicle of RC Racer featured small boxes in front of the guests to store small bags, purses, cameras etc. for the duration of the ride. There was even a “test” box early in the queue area for guests to make sure that their bags would fit into this on-board storage. However, during the AP previews those on-board boxed had been closed and could not be used. This past weekend the boxes suddenly had disappeared, i.e. had been dismounted from the ride vehicle. The immediate impact is additional leg-room for guests on board. Already in the past weeks the cast member in the station on the exit-site was taking backpacks and similar items off the guests and storing them in an enclosed rack next to the station’s exit gate.
BTW: at Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop several boxes and barrels have been stacked up next to each parachute. These function as enclosed storage areas for the bags of riders on the according parachute since the parachutes themselves do not have any storage for backpacks etc. However, guests are allowed to take cameras onto their ride to take aerial photos of the area.
Friday evening the Shareholders’ Club members were invited to enjoy the all new Toy Story Playland at Walt Disney Studios Park after park closure. Considering the late nightfall and early park closing of the Walt Disney Studios the event was the first opportunity to enjoy the new addition to the park with its lighting design in full display.
During a visit to Toy Story Playland earlier in the day numerous additional, temporary lights were found to be standing in the new area, however, those turned out to be not necessary at night and were not used. 
Most propably they had been placed in TSPL already in anticipation for the major press event scheduled for Saturday night. But then for Friday’s Shareholders’ Club event the regular lighting needed no extra add-ons. This also had the big advantage that guests could enjoy the light design as it was intended by Imagineering… (more…)
For more than 2 years a giant billboard advertised the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror to everyone heading toward the parks from the resort’s main daytime guest parking lot. Located right above the fence blocking off the future Disney Village expansion lot in front of the Disney Village parking structure the large billboard is perfectly located to be noted by all guests no matter whether they plan to head into the Disneyland Park or the Walt Disney Studios. In time for the opening of the Toy Story Playland the billboard finally was replaced and is now proudly touting the newest addition to the studios: Toy Story Playland. But that is not the only sign which got updates for Toy Story Playland… (more…)
The extreme popularity of the Toy Story Playland (penned up by the late opening on August 17 despite being prominently featured in ads since early spring) is having its impact in particular on wait times as reported here reportedly since the official opening of the area. However, despite wait times exceedings 100 minutes at times for RC Racer the queue area of this attraction has proven to be more than large enough with the line mostly being limited to the covered section and the last meters of the out door section leading to it. On the other hand the queue for Slinky Dog ZigZag Spin is frequently extended with ropes in front of its entrance. Close to the ride’s exit just opposite of the entrance to RC Racer another line has been roped off for handicapped guests who are allowed to bypass the regular line (but nevertheless have to wait in a line). (more…)
A bit more than two weeks have gone by for the Toy Story Playland in regular operation and we can already report the next addition to it – unfortunately its fences. Next to the station building of RC Racer a set up had been installed in a special extension of the walkways featuring a smaller version of the RC Racer on a bit of red toy track. The unique twist there being, that the RC Racer was open on its left side (facing toward the rear of the land) so that guests could step seemingly into the car to get their photo taken as if onboard of it. By the end of last week temporary steel barriers with white plastic coverings had been errected around this RC Racer photo op blocking access to it while still allowing to take pictures over the barrier at least of the scene (even so not with anyone inside). (more…)
Toy Story Playland is not yet even open for 10 days but with the first weekend and several buy summer season weekdays of regular operation under its belt its time to sum up the first opinions and report about the first adjustments that the operational team has introduced in response to what can only be called an overwhelming guest response to the new are of the Walt Disney Studios – one of which is a real positive surprise…
The impact of the new Toy Story Playland becomes obvious already prior to entering the park as the lines on the entrance gates prior to the official opening of the park have considerably grown. However, once the gates open a large number of guests still head to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and in particular Crush’s Coaster, where a massive line still forms and stays in place throughout the day. So the effect of reducing the line at Crush’s Coaster that some fans had hoped for hasn’t shown up. (more…)
