It's hard to believe that it took this long for Toy Story to get its own themed area at Walt Disney World, but better late than never! Toy Story Land is Disney's latest attraction and is based on the widely successful Toy Story franchise from Pixar. The park section had its grand opening yesterday, and in what shouldn't come as a big surprise, people came from far and wide to experience life-sized toys and brand-new rides. Toy Story Land was absolutely packed from the moment it opened its doors and by 9 a.m. there were waits as long as 300 minutes.
WDW Magic, a blog that covers Walt Disney World, was on hand to catalog the entire opening and they report that people were waiting to get into Toy Story Land as early as 4:30 in the morning. The park opened at 6 a.m., two hours earlier than originally announced. Arriving early isn't a very good strategy when hundreds of other people are thinking the same thing. Within the first hour, Slinky Dog Dash had a four-hour (or 240 minutes) wait time. It wasn't long before the park reached full capacity and operations had to be closed down for anyone who didn't have FastPass+.
By 9 a.m. in the morning, it was a three or four-hour wait just to enter Toy Story Land and 300 minutes (!) just to ride Slinky Dog Dash. Lines were as far back as the Chinese Theater, which might not mean anything if you've never been to Hollywood Studios, but rest assured that it was a long line. To help control the crowds, Pixar Place (basically a small attraction right before Toy Story Land that's modeled after Pixar Animation Studios) was hosting some meet and greets with Woody, Buzz, and Jessie. For the people who were there that day, the rest of Hollywood Studios was operating normally.
Located in Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World, Toy Story Land is filled with everything you'd come to expect from Disney. The new park features detailed rides and structures that make you feel like you stepped into one of the movies. Green army men walk around as you move from one ride to the next, with the highlight being the aforementioned Slinky Dog Dash, a roller coaster based on the character from the movies. All of this is catnip to vacationing families and Disney fans looking to spend a day at the park, and Toy Story Land was filled to capacity in just a few short hours after its grand opening on Saturday.
I suppose one lesson here is that you should never go to the grand opening of anything at Walt Disney World without a chair. Now I can't wait to find out what's going to happen when the Star Wars park opens.
