Toy Story Land
Last week, Toy Story Land opened at Disney Hollywood Studios inside the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. The highly anticipated opening for the new themed land, which takes visitors into Andy’s backyard, should provide a much needed jolt to the lagging Hollywood Studios park (along with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge).
There are lots of articles and videos which take readers and viewers inside of the new park. The new themed land features three (3) premiere rides/attractions including Toy Story Mania, Slinky Dog Dash Roller Coaster, and Alien Swirling Saucers. There are also new restaurants and food stands serving a collection of new foods - most of which are updated takes on kids’ classics such as grilled cheese and tomato soup.
At Disney & Dads, we try to write about the stories that everyone else isn’t already talking about and provide a unique insight and perspective. So while the fanfare around the internet has been about the incredible new attraction, we are going to look at the ripple effect that this could potentially have on the other theme parks down at Walt Disney World.
If anyone outside of the WDW resort took a look at the wait times on the app this past weekend, they would have seen enormous lines for Toy Story Land. On Saturday, the Slinky Dog Dash was a 270 minute wait for most of the day — that’s 4.5 hours! Keep in mind that this was the opening weekend and the most diehard of Disney fans and annual pass holders flocked to the park to catch a glimpse of the new attraction.
The most interesting quetsion will be just how much and how long the draw of Toy Story land will bring more visitors into the Disney Hollywood Studios park. Over the last several years, the DHS has been the least visited of the four theme parks inside the WDW Resort. Outside of The Midway, Tower of Terror, and Rock-n-Roller Coaster, there were few attractions to justify spending an entire day (and a ticket) visiting. That change last week when Toy Story Land opened (and will soon be complimented by Galaxy’s Edge).
Perhaps the biggest winner of the new attraction will be those visiting the Magic Kingdom. As the No. 1 visited theme park, the Magic Kingdom typically has sustained long waiting periods for it’s most popular attractions such as Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Mine Ride, and Peter Pan’s Flight. At least for this past weekend, those wait times were down. In middle of the day, Peter Pan’s Flight, typically a 70+ minute wait, was only 45 minutes. Splash and Thunder Mountain were only 35-40 minutes each.
D&D is going to continue to monitor the wait times through the busy summer season. Disney fans have long agonized over the lengthy wait times for Magic Kingdom attractions. Since Toy Story Land was announced, we hoped it would help to alleviate the crowds at other theme parks, most noticeably the Magic Kingdom.
There are lots of articles and videos which take readers and viewers inside of the new park. The new themed land features three (3) premiere rides/attractions including Toy Story Mania, Slinky Dog Dash Roller Coaster, and Alien Swirling Saucers. There are also new restaurants and food stands serving a collection of new foods - most of which are updated takes on kids’ classics such as grilled cheese and tomato soup.
Tim Allen opens Toy Story Land at Walt Disney World. pic.twitter.com/FrOdu2Z02w— Showcase of Wishes (@ShowcaseWishes) June 29, 2018
At Disney & Dads, we try to write about the stories that everyone else isn’t already talking about and provide a unique insight and perspective. So while the fanfare around the internet has been about the incredible new attraction, we are going to look at the ripple effect that this could potentially have on the other theme parks down at Walt Disney World.
If anyone outside of the WDW resort took a look at the wait times on the app this past weekend, they would have seen enormous lines for Toy Story Land. On Saturday, the Slinky Dog Dash was a 270 minute wait for most of the day — that’s 4.5 hours! Keep in mind that this was the opening weekend and the most diehard of Disney fans and annual pass holders flocked to the park to catch a glimpse of the new attraction.
The most interesting quetsion will be just how much and how long the draw of Toy Story land will bring more visitors into the Disney Hollywood Studios park. Over the last several years, the DHS has been the least visited of the four theme parks inside the WDW Resort. Outside of The Midway, Tower of Terror, and Rock-n-Roller Coaster, there were few attractions to justify spending an entire day (and a ticket) visiting. That change last week when Toy Story Land opened (and will soon be complimented by Galaxy’s Edge).
Perhaps the biggest winner of the new attraction will be those visiting the Magic Kingdom. As the No. 1 visited theme park, the Magic Kingdom typically has sustained long waiting periods for it’s most popular attractions such as Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Mine Ride, and Peter Pan’s Flight. At least for this past weekend, those wait times were down. In middle of the day, Peter Pan’s Flight, typically a 70+ minute wait, was only 45 minutes. Splash and Thunder Mountain were only 35-40 minutes each.
D&D is going to continue to monitor the wait times through the busy summer season. Disney fans have long agonized over the lengthy wait times for Magic Kingdom attractions. Since Toy Story Land was announced, we hoped it would help to alleviate the crowds at other theme parks, most noticeably the Magic Kingdom.
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