Category: Walt Disney World Resort

Originally slated to debut today, Sunday saw the soft opening of two new Star Wars entertainment offerings at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

The first show features Captain Phasma leading a battalion of First Order Stormtroopers through the park, leading them to the Center Stage for a short show:

While short, this show is very well put together and sure to delight fans of The Force Awakens. It’s quick, accurate to the film, and a really nice touch several times throughout the day. My suggestion is to stand by the Launch Bay restrooms around the time of this show and simply follow the march once they pass you. They will lead you all the way up to the stage and a great viewing location in the very center.

Then there is Star Wars: A Galaxy Far, Far Away…

This show is bad, real bad. Other than a few really great photo-ops and an appearance by a cool, new BB-8 character, this show falls flat. It’s just a series of film clips followed by quick character appearances:

I feel like guests standing in the hot Florida sun will not think their time was well-spent waiting for this disaster to happen. Hopefully it isn’t too late to re-tool this, otherwise I foresee a lot of disappointed guests this summer.

As you know, plans change when building attractions for Disney Parks, and Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is no different:

Original Toy Story Land rendering, 2015

2016 rendering

When walls went up near PIXAR Place on April 3rd, so did a new piece of concept art for Toy Story Land (which guests can now visit at the end of the street). Noticeable in the concept art were some changes to the Slinky Dog Coaster, most noticeably the loss of the portions of ground where Andy (or maybe Bonnie) had dug a path for the roller-coaster playset to travel through. As well, one of the large turns that was to travel over a guest pathway now simply travels through a wooded area.

Among the other changes were the removal of a scene featuring the Green Army Men and a portion where guests would burst through a wall of some kind. Some other set pieces and scenes have also quietly disappeared, but it is hard to make out exactly what was lost in the concept art. The cuts are not being seen as budgetary, but likely to speed up the construction of Toy Story Land, which Disney hopes to have completed by late 2017/early 2018.

Even though there appears to have been cuts, some great details remain:

Woody’s friend Mic makes an appearance…

As does Mr. Spell…

The second launch sends guests through a Hot Wheels-style device.

There’s even a show scene with Jessie rescuing Rex from a tower of toppling Jenga pieces!

Looking at the rest of the artwork, taking over what was the Studio Catering Co. space appears to be “Woody’s Round-Up”, a new counter service location.

Looks like it may even recycle a few props from Hey Howdy Hey Take-Away. The entire building may not just be this small eatery, but this lunchbox and the seating area outside definitely are.

Just beyond the borders of Toy Story Land is the heavily wooded new planet of Star Wars land. A tunnel will transport guests between the two realms.

The Little Green Men Flying Saucer ride has its own concept art up on the walls as well. The ride is similar to Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, but there are Aliens in saucers pulling carts around instead while you avoid The Claw.

Here you can see the ride has an expansive indoor queue area with two separate ride areas

Guests enter past Buzz Lightyear, down a pathway, and under neath Buzz’s spaceship

Down at the bottom you can find the new entrance to Toy Story Midway Mania, most likely with the new outdoor home to the Mr. Potato Head animatronic character.

Other details of the land seen in the original concept art aren’t seen here either, but they could just be out of frame (i.e. the Al’s Toy Barn and Woody’s western-style facades). While a few details of Toy Story Land seem to have fallen to time and budget, what’s left still looks to be an impressive and much-needed addition to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

What do you think?

On Sunday, Writer’s Stop at Disney’s Hollywood Studios debuted a new lounge menu. Among a selection of fairly normal alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, the lounge offers three “plates”.

The warm pretzel was good, but the sipping sauces were awful. The melted cheese tasted as if it had been sitting there for a long time and the mustard tasted off as well.

The cheese plate was standard, nothing too crazy and everything tasted just fine.

The spiced nuts weren’t bad, but shouldn’t be priced at $5.00. They had a nice spicy kick to them.

For being a lounge, there isn’t anything very lounge-y about this place. You have to go to the counter to order, the drink selection is the usual Disney selection, and the menu is abysmal. This is everything a “lounge” at Walt Disney World shouldn’t be. The menu is a lazy cash-grab to offset the loss of several establishments now closed in the overhaul of the park. If you want to stop in and grab a drink to go, this isn’t a bad idea, but removing all of the baked goods to serve three of the blandest dishes I have ever seen at any dining establishment at Disney World that doesn’t have wheels on the bottom? Yikes.

The idea of a lounge to serve guests waiting for Sci-Fi Dine-In is great, and the system works really well with 50’s Prime Time Cafe and the adjacent Tune-In Lounge, but this isn’t working. Why not just cart Sci-Fi appetizers over here? At least that give a better or real) menu. Who wouldn’t stop in for a Sci-Fi milkshake or dessert if offered here? There is a world of possibilities here, but instead, it’s a half-store, half-lounge with almost zero reason for you to visit it. Unless changes are made, Writer’s Stop is a place that you just shouldn’t stop at.