Opening and Important Dates for Toy Story Mania

WDWNT on March 26, 2008

Here are the dates our “sources” have stated for the following events pertaining to the new Toy Story Mania attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios:

-Soft Openings begin on or around April 25, 2008

-Cast Member Previews of the attraction from April 26-27 and May 2-4, 2008

-Media Preview on May 9, 2008

-Annual Passholder Previews from May 10-12, 2008

-Media Press Event on May 16, 2008

-Official Grand Opening on May 20, 2008.

These very same dates were also posted on the Inside the Magic Forums, which leads me further to believe they are accurate as of the current moment. Be sure to stay tuned to WDW News Today as more information becomes available on any of these events and this upcoming attraction.

Toy Story Mania Press Release

WDWNT on March 25, 2008

Even though we released and confirmed most of these details last week, here is a look at a press release from LaughingPlace.com about Toy Story Mania:

Disney Parks guests will don 3-D glasses and enter a wild and wooly 4-D world of Woody the Cowboy and Buzz Lightyear when Toy Story Mania! premieres this summer. The attraction will debut on both coasts: at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, and along the Paradise Pier midway in Disney’s California Adventure at Disneyland Resort in California. Celebrating the Disney•Pixar classics “Toy Story” and “Toy Story II,” Toy Story Mania! raises the bar for interactive ride-game attractions. It’s a high energy, immersive adventure that makes guests a key part of the action as their game play triggers special effects that provide a fourth dimension of fun. “Toy Story Mania!” engages guests in a whole new way with the delightful characters of the films.

Upon entering the attraction, guests will be welcomed by Mr. Potato Head, more than five feet tall and looking like he stepped right down from the movie screen. The state-of-the-art Audio-Animatronics Mr. Potato Head makes a perfect carnival barker for the immersive Toy Story Mania! experience, since he is the first attraction-based Audio-Animatronics figure who can engage guests in a two-way conversation.

Everyone gets a front row seat when guests put on their 3-D glasses, “shrink” to the size of a toy, and board the Toy Story Mania! carnival tram ride vehicles, whose fast travel and spinning add a huge amount of fun to the interactive experience. The exciting and colorful route takes guests through “Andy’s Bedroom” filled with oversized murals and toys. The vehicles spin to face Toy Story Mania! game booths – high-tech yet rooted in classic midway games of skill – and guests aim for 3-D animated targets using their own on-board “spring-action shooters.” Players pair up and sit side-by-side for a friendly competition that delivers an ever-changing variety of targets and surprises. As they play, guests can actually see the “virtual” objects they’ve launched leave their “spring-action shooters” and hit the targets (or not). And thanks to 4-D special effects technology, they may sense objects whirring past them as they pop out of the 3-D scenes.

The Toy Story Mania! games – five of them, plus an introductory practice round – are designed to be enjoyed by audiences of all ages and skills, from beginners to serious gamers. Play is energized by the spirit of the “Toy Story” characters cast in games that best suit their very animated personalities.

First comes the “Pie Throw Practice” round in which guests can try splattering targets with “virtual” pies. Next Hamm the pig hosts a “Hamm & Eggs” booth in which players launch “plastic virtual eggs” at various barnyard targets. “Bo Peep’s Baaa-loon Pop” presents a landscape full of balloon sheep, trees and other objects at which guests can launch virtual darts. But players had better be careful! A popped virtual water balloon might add an additional 4-D wet dimension to the game. From there it’s on to “Green Army Men Shoot Camp” where the challenge is to break plates with baseballs. Next up is “Buzz Lightyear’s Flying Tossers,” a ring-toss game hosted by everyone’s favorite space ranger, with Little Green Aliens as the targets. For the grand finale game, Toy Story Mania! players will ride through Wild West scenes launching virtual suction-cup darts at targets in “Woody’s Rootin’ Tootin’ Shootin’ Gallery.” A final “Woody’s Bonus Roundup” encourages guests to fire their “spring-action shooters” as rapidly as possible at one last super-target for extra points. When scores are tallied, players’ skill levels are identified with the reward of an onscreen “virtual plush.”

The game play of Toy Story Mania! is accompanied by ingenious musical variations of Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got A Friend in Me,” arranged by veteran music editor Bruno Coon, a frequent Newman collaborator, to compliment the games – for example, a military brass band version for “Green Army Man Shoot Camp.” No matter how many times guests return to ride and play, they can be sure every ride-through will be different.

Monorail Red Puts Rumors to Rest

WDWNT on March 25, 2008

Disneyland has been conducting regular after-hours tests of Monorail Red, putting to rest persistent Internet chat room rumors that the new Mach VII would have to be sent back to the assembly plant for major modifications.Disney officials said that the new monorail has been cycling around the beamway under its own power and that sending the futuristic bullet-nosed train back to the Vancouver, Canada, assembly plant was “never considered.”

After the test-and-adjust phase, Monorail Red will undergo state inspections, and Disney employees will be trained in the operation of the five-car burgundy train before visitors get their first ride.

Monorail Blue, still under construction in Canada, is scheduled to arrive at Disneyland between mid-April and early May.

The monorail’s sleek iconic exterior features color-shifting paint with gray pinstriping that evokes the stainless-steel side panels of the 1959 original designed by Disney Imagineer Bob Gurr.

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Disney Ruining the World?

WDWNT on March 25, 2008

From TMZ.com:

No, not our world, the Small one. According to the LA Times, the family of the woman who helped create “It’s a Small World” is begging Disney not to screw up the iconic ride with “idiotic” changes.

The ride has been closed since January to upgrade its boats – which some think was needed in order to accommodate the ever increasing weight of the general population. But now other changes are being tossed around.

MiceAge.com is reporting that Disney Imagineers are considering adding Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Peter Pan, Nemo and other Disney characters to locations throughout the ride while replacing the Papua, New Guinea, rain forest scene with an American tribute.

In an open letter to Disney execs, the family writes, “The Disney characters of themselves are positive company icons, but they do NOT fit in with the original theme of the ride. They will do nothing except to marginalize the rightful stars of the ride ‘The Children of the World.'”

Disney officials say some additions will be made to Small World but that no decision has been made on specific creative changes to the ride despite the speculation.

I find it funny that about 90% of the readers of TMZ think adding Disney characters to It’s a Small World is a bad idea. And it’s not even a Disney related website!

3 Years of 3 Million Dreams?

WDWNT on March 25, 2008

From the OC Register:

Some families changed their flights. One guest postponed a job interview. And others invited family and friends to gather on the balcony to watch Fantasmic.

As of last Friday, 17 parties had won overnight stays at the Disneyland Dream Suite, which opened Jan. 31, said Steve Arneson, manager of the Dream Squad at the Disneyland Resort, during sessions with reporters last week.

The suite gives winners, who are randomly selected at spots in Disney property, the chance to spend a night at a special apartment in Disneyland over the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

The suite only has enough room for six people to sleep there. But guests have invited up to 16 people to watch the Fantasmic! show from the balcony. Overnight guests get a two-hour tour after the park closes and receive a gift basket, including a crystal bowls engraved with their names and the dates of their stay.

Disney has committed to 266 nights, but may extend the contest another year.

I’m Really Going to Disneyland This Time!

WDWNT on March 25, 2008

Super Bowl XLII MVP Eli Manning may soon make good on his postgame pronouncement: “I’m going to Disneyland.”Disneyland officials are working with representatives of the New York Giants quarterback to finalize plans for a visit to the Anaheim theme park, complete with a day parade. The event is expected to take place in early to mid-May; a firm date will be announced once scheduling conflicts are ironed out.

Disneyland was forced to postpone a hastily arranged parade on the day after the Super Bowl when Manning got stuck for hours at an Arizona airport waiting for the skies to clear of corporate jet getaway traffic.

The abrupt cancellation left disappointed Giants fans along Disneyland’s parade route as a team of forlorn Pop Warner football players rode a float sans the MVP down Main Street U.S.A.

After a ticker-tape parade down New York City’s “Canyon of Heroes” and an appearance on the “Late Show With David Letterman,” Manning opted for a sunny vacation in the Bahamas over a photo op with Mickey Mouse.

Here’s hoping Mickey doesn’t hold a grudge.

— Brady MacDonald / Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Adding a Note of Character

WDWNT on March 24, 2008

An interesting, yet blasphemous rumor that’s popping up now is the additon of music from Disney movies to It’s a Small World at Disneyland (for example, Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride playing when you go past Lilo & Stitch). This is most likely going to happen in the new Hong Kong Disneyland version of It’s a Small World, but seeing as we may be getting Disney characters too, this might also be likely for us:

In addition to the four new languages, the team is making this it’s a small world unique by working with master music arranger George Wilkins to add a series of arrangements from classic Disney animated films that will play as “counterpoints” to the new character overlays. For example, as guests pass through the North America scene and see the doll dressed as Pocahontas, they’ll hear a subtle suggestion of “Colors of the Wind.”

“Because ‘small world’ is such a simple song, we couldn’t take some of these grand arrangements and put them on top of it,” said John. “We’re being very sensitive to the existing song because [it’s] so good and so universally loved.”

Just a Few Posts Deleted

WDWNT on March 24, 2008

I don’t know how or why this is happening, but we’ve seemed to of lost a few posts from the last couple of days. I shall be working on restoring these posts, & I’m sorry if this causes any inconvenience to anybody.

UPDATE: Most of the important & up-to-date posts have been re-added, thanks to the help of a website called Technorati. Apparently our site has a page on Technorati, so I used it to put up all of the deleted posts. To read the deleted posts that have not been re-added, visit our Technorati page. You can also look to our Technorati page if we ever have any posts being deleted problems again.

– Luke Manning 

Shanghai Disneyland

WDWNT on March 23, 2008

SHANGHAI, March, 2008 — US-based Walt Disney Company has decided to build a Disneyland at Chuansha town, Pudong, Shanghai, expected to be announced around the period for the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, according to reliable news. Shanghai mayor Han Zheng once said that the city, having the ability to build a Disneyland, was preparing for the construction and waiting for approval from the State Council, China’s cabinet.

Shanghai Current Economics Research Institute head Wang Liang said that the location of Disney had started to influence the city’s every aspect, such as stock market, real estate, tourism and retail business. For instance, Disney concept stocks, Shanghai Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone Development Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 600663), Shanghai Jielong Industry Group Corporation Limited (SHSE: 600836), Shanghai Pudong Road & Bridge Construction Company Limited (SHSE: 600284) and Shanghai Construction Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 600170) kept rising from middle February when the whole stock market was down.

Moreover, all houses at a building under construction, which nears Disney Shanghai theme park, have been sold out. An insider pointed out that the to-be-built Disneyland, a large tourism project able to accept customers to stay for two nights, would double the Shanghai tourism industry’s current revenue, which was good for China’s domestic tourism in spite of a certain impact on Hong Kong Disneyland.

As early as five years ago, rumors reported that the Walt Disney Company was to build a Disneyland in Shanghai, the nation’s financial hub, with acreage three times that of Disneyland Hong Kong. Until March 9, 2008, an insider told journalists that the Chinese watchdog had in principle agreed the foreign giant to locate the Disneyland in Shanghai. In addition, subways and light rails to the Chuansha town will be available in 2009 and so did the related supporting facilities around.

As a matter of fact, China’s other large cities, like Beijing, Chengdu and Tianjin have also gotten into a fierce struggle in hopes of locating the Disneyland there, which is expected to boost a city’s economy and industry to a new high, said Zhu Lianqing, director at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences research center.

Podcast Episode 35 Now Available for Download

WDWNT on March 23, 2008

To subscribe to the WDW News Today podcast on Itunes, go to this link. If you do not have Itunes, visit our Podcast Download Directory to download or listen to all of our shows

Join Tom Corless, John Corigliano, and a cast including Jason Diffendal, Justin Heyman, Nick McLamb, Jose Castillo and Luke Manning for a show that Bridges the Gaps Between you and the World. Sit back, relax, and enjoy all of the Walt Disney World information and fun we have to offer on this episode of WDWNT.

To kick off episode 35, Jason Diffendal and Justin Heyman join us in discussing the Walt Disney World news and rumors. This week, we discuss an upcoming customizable ear hats, details on Toy Story Mania, and the possibility of a revamped Tomorrowland Speedway at the Magic Kingdom.

Our Walt Disney World history segment, Back To The Future, returns, as we talk about the history of Magic Kingdom attractions inside what is often referred to as the Tomorrowland Metropolis Science Center. Joining us in our 360 degree time travel this week is Justin Heyman, as we jump from “time to time” to visit America The Beautiful, Magic Carpet Round the World, American Journeys, The Timekeeper and Monsters Inc. The Laugh Floor attractions.

Our newest segment, Town Square Talk, debuts this week with WDWNT community forum administrator Justin Heyman highlighting the hottest topics being discussed this week. Be sure to get in on these and other exciting discussions by heading over to wdwnewstoday.com/forum!!!

To end this week’s show, we have the latest discussion in our dining series, as we discuss counter service dining locations at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. You may be surprised at just how many offerings the smallest gate at WDW has to offer for a quick bite.

To subscribe to the WDW News Today podcast on Itunes, go to this link. If you do not have Itunes, visit our Podcast Download Directory to download or listen to all of our shows