Visions Fantastic has coverage of the opening of the Innoventions Dream Home & Toy Story Midway Mania. Included are the opening ceremonies of both attractions. They also have a video of the attraction. Keep checking their coverage for more pictures.
Both Toy Story Midway Mania & the Innoventions Dream Home officially opened for business today! Here’s some pictures & a press release from Disney:
John Lasseter & Roger Gould riding Toy Story Midway Mania
Left to Right: Ed Grier, Jay Rasulo, Bob Iger, John Lasseter
During the opening ceremony, Green Army Men parachuted down into the Paradise Pier lagoon
Various executives at the opening of the Innoventions Dream Home
The Family Room at the Dream Home
TOY STORY MANIA! LAUNCHES WITH FOUR DIMENSIONS OF FUN AND A BIG BOOST FROM BUZZ AT DISNEYLAND RESORT
ANAHEIM, Calif. – June 17, 2008 – In a spectacular ceremony featuring sky divers, fireworks and Disney executives, along with NASA Astronauts and Buzz Lightyear on board the International Space Station, the new Toy Story Mania! attraction premiered today in Disney’s California Adventure as part of Disney’s “Year of a Million Dreams.”
Inspired by the Disney•Pixar films “Toy Story” and “Toy Story II,” Toy Story Mania! raises the bar for interactive ride-game attractions. It’s a high-energy, immersive adventure in which guests don 3-D glasses and enter a wild 4-D world of game play with Woody, Buzz and other favorite “Toy Story” characters. Special effects add a fourth dimension of fun.
“Through the years, millions of people around the world have enjoyed the humor, excitement and wonder of ‘Toy Story’ and its unforgettable cast of characters,” said Bob Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Walt Disney Company. “With the opening of Toy Story Mania!, we celebrate the enduring popularity of Woody, Buzz and their friends as our Disneyland Resort guests become a part of their adventures through this new and imaginative theme-park experience.”
Joining Iger in the opening festivities for Toy Story Mania! were Jay Rasulo, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts; Ed Grier, President of the Disneyland Resort, and John Lasseter, director of the original “Toy Story” and Chief Creative Officer of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. Buzz Lightyear and NASA astronauts sent greetings to Disney•Pixar fans from “infinity and beyond” – aboard the International Space Station.
In the timeless tradition of Disney storytelling, Toy Story Mania! takes its inspiration from the fact that Andy’s toys spring to life whenever he is away. Soon after Andy received a “Midway Games Play Set” for his birthday, the toys opened the box and set up the game booths and carnival trams so everyone could ride and play.
Upon entering the attraction, guests are 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, capable of engaging guests in two-way conversation and encouraging them to “step right up” for the immersive Toy Story Mania! experience.
“Toy Story Mania! merges interactive gaming with classic storytelling as only Disney can do,” Rasulo said. “We consider it to be one of our most energetic, immersive experiences yet, and it took a remarkable collaboration between Pixar and Disney to bring it to life in 4-D.”
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, which add a huge amount of fun to the interactive experience. The innovative design includes features that also make the fun accessible to guests with disabilities. No matter how many times guests return to ride and play Toy Story Mania!, they can be sure every ride-through will seem like a new experience.
Toy Story Mania is just the latest highlight of the Year of a Million Dreams celebration at Disney Parks. Also premiering at Disneyland Resort today is the new Innoventions Dream Home, in Tomorrowland at Disneyland park.
Innoventions Dream Home is both a show and a showcase, offering guests of all ages a hands-on experience with the newest in-home technologies as they interact with members of the fictional Elias family in a fun, home environment. Microsoft, HP, Life|ware and homebuilder Taylor Morrison have joined with Disneyland Resort to create entertaining, story-based demonstrations of the connected digital lifestyle, which can simplify and enhance daily family life.
Read More about Midway Mania and Dream Home Open For Business!
The Orange Stinger swing ride will get a new Disney theme and back story as part of the planned $1.1-billion Disney’s California Adventure makeover, Walt Disney Imagineering officials confirmed.
Gone will be the 40-foot-tall orange peel that surrounds the 48-seat spinning swing set and the Disney-free buzzing bumble bee theme, Imagineering officials said.
In its place: a Victorian architectural style more akin to the remade Paradise Pier section of the Anaheim theme park represented by the new Toy Story Mania attraction.
Imagineering officials declined to elaborate on the new “Disney theme.”
The Blue Sky Disney fan site reported the Orange Stinger will be redubbed…… “The Silly Symphonies Swings,” with a theme based on “The Band Concert” 1935 cartoon short featuring the first colorized Mickey Mouse.
The made-over 1 1/2-minute ride would feature a twirling tornado mast with smoke-spewing special effects, an orchestral score and a “Conductor Mickey” on top, according to Blue Sky.
— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
IT’S THE HOME OF YOUR DREAMS!! INNOVENTIONS DREAM HOME INVITES GUESTS TO EXPERIENCE THE FUTURE TODAY
New Tomorrowland Attraction at Disneyland Resort Combines State-of-the-Art Technology with the Latest in Disneyland Immersive Storytelling
ANAHEIM, Calif. – June 16, 2008 – Imagine a home so perfectly attuned to the needs of a family that it can anticipate and fulfill them, virtually without anyone lifting a finger. Now imagine that the home offers family members high-tech connectivity, not just with one another but with people, entertainment and information in the world at large.
Guests at Disneyland can soon do more than imagine it. Beginning June 17, the Innoventions Dream Home in Tomorrowland is bringing that world to life as a limited number of guests have the opportunity to preview the home.
The Innoventions Dream Home is both a show and a showcase, offering guests of all ages a hands-on experience with new in-home technologies, some that are practical and some that are astounding. Microsoft, HP, Life|ware and homebuilder Taylor Morrison have joined with Disneyland Resort to demonstrate how a connected digital lifestyle can simplify and enhance many aspects of daily family life.
“We’re thrilled to open the Innoventions Dream Home with the help of our partners,” said Ed Grier, president of the Disneyland Resort. “We are confident our guests will find new ways to connect to their world in this immersive, entertaining experience.”
The Elias family will be excited to welcome all guests into their new Dream Home at the end of June.
The experience includes guest interaction with the residents of the Dream Home – the fictional Elias family. Members of the family move from room to room, utilizing the technology as they prepare for a big celebration. Guests who enter the Dream Home can observe and play with all its comforts, including:
“It’s both ‘high-tech’ and ‘high-touch,’” said Greg Atkins, writer and director for the free-form Innoventions Dream Home experience. “We’ll be showcasing technology that connects families to each other, their home, the surrounding community and the world. And many of the innovative things our guests will be playing with are actually available today.”
Also new in the Innoventions building are five Neighborhood Shows – educational entertainment presented in the ring area of the first floor. The interactive shows opening June 17 are presented by ABC Television, homebuilder Taylor Morrison and Yamaha Music. Honda and Southern California Edison will open shows later this summer.
The user-friendly technology of the Innoventions Dream Home is on display from the moment guests approach the entrance to “360 Tomorrowland Way” (a whimsical reference to the circular “carousel” structure of the Innoventions building). Each room offers new experiences and surprises.
According to Blue Sky Disney:
Those of you that attend the grand opening of “Toy Story Midway Mania” on June 17th will get to see a great celebration of what could be the beginning of the Second Gate we always wanted.
Watch the skies while you’re there. You may see some real Green Army Men parachuting into the pier…
Laughing Place has a short 3 minute video from the Hi-Seoul Art Troupe who are performing in the Pacific Wharf section of Disney’s California Adventure:
We’ve heard reports of an accident happening over at Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. Apparently a woman had somehow cut her leg so bad that bone was visible.
That’s the only detail we have on the accident right now, but we’ll update you with more information as soon as it’s available!
Toy Story Mania takes the dark-ride concept to the next level with an immersive and interactive experience that only Disney can deliver. Call it the theme park ride for the Wii generation.
If Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters represented an evolutionary hyperspace leap forward, Toy Story Mania symbolizes the revolutionary next generation — the dark ride version 2.0.
After a preview ride this week, I only had one problem with Toy Story Mania: the all-consuming game prevents me from sitting back and simply enjoying the scenery. I have to play. For me, the game has already proven so addictive as to cause TSM (a.k.a. Mania Elbow) — a form of repetitive stress injury brought on by repeated tugging on the spring-action shooter. I find myself constantly shaking my sore wrist after each round of play.
Opening June 17 at Disney’s California Adventure, the $80-million D-Ticket Toy Story Mania takes riders through a carnival midway hosted by the movie’s animated characters — Buzz, Woody, Jessie, Rex and Hamm.
Wearing 3-D glasses, riders on the five-minute drive-through video game compete against one another by firing virtual darts, pies and eggs during virtual games of chance.
Is Toy Story Mania the best ride at California Adventure? Absolutely. It plays to Disney’s storytelling strength and surpasses Tower of Terror and Soarin’ Over California on my all-time favorites list.
Are there better rides across the way at Disneyland? Absolutely. I still prefer Indiana Jones Adventure and Haunted Mansion for a completely immersive experience.
But Toy Story Mania is an excellent benchmark for DCA going forward as the planned $1.1-billion expansion unfolds over the next five years. Here’s hoping Disney’s Imagineers keep the bar set high and strive to outdo their Toy Story Mania success.
— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
MintCrocodile is back with a quick look at the new seating for Award Wieners in Hollywood Pictures Backlot, that replaced the former MuppetVision 3D extended queue:
For more pictures from Mint’s June 12th visit to the resort, click here!
Let’s take a look at some various things going on through-out the Disneyland Resort from the latest Disneyland Update on DisneyGeek:
The 2008 Hi Seoul Korea Performing Arts Showcase
On either side of the stage were monitors that showed the name of what the group was performing, & between shows played a video
Check out the DisneyGeek DLR Update (linked above) for more pictures from 3 of the performances on June 9th
For some reason, this section of Paradise Pier is blocked off
More scaffolding is up on the Grizzly River Run waterwheel
Here are a few pictures from inside Toy Story Midway Mania
Again, more pictures from TSMM are in the DisneyGeek DLR Update
