Once guests half walked into Toy Story Playland and stand between Fort Emery and the Slinky Dog ZigZag Spin area (which we visited in yesterday’s part of our walk through Toy Story Playland) the bright orange race track of the area’s real thrill ride beckons at the far end (and lowest point) of the area, the first ever half-pipe ride in any Disney park worldwide. In fact the (race) track of RC Racer can be seen from various locations inside the Walt Disney Studios, even so it is mostly hidden from sight from Disneyland Park (despite reaching above the berm of the latter) thanks to the fact that it is placed at the lowest point of the land and at the same time among the large trees of the small wood that has been grown for 100 years and longer in the area that is now part of the Walt Disney Studios.

RC Racer seats 20 guests in five rows (of four guests each) in the 8 ton vehicle that has been themed to look like a large version of the RC Racer that has its great moment in the final scene of the very first Toy Story movie. According to Jim Shull, the Imagineer in charge of Toy Story Playland, original concepts only called for a capacity of 16 guests in the vehicle (in four rows) but apparently John Lasseter proposed to add an extra row increasing the capacity of the ride. Nevertheless as RC Racer is the area’s real thrill ride Imagineering expects a large number of guests looking to hitch a ride. So it has come up with a rather long and still uniquely themed queue line… (more…)