TSMM: Girls and Their Toys (and Kevin!)
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When you tell someone you are visiting a lab for a story it usually conveys images of sanitized brilliant white surfaces, men in white coats and invariably complex and bewildering instruments throughout the space � however sometimes those preconceptions can be wrong � very wrong. Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to playtest a multitude of different toys and gadgets created by Walt Disney Imagineering�s Research and Development Lab. These tests have often be held in a low-slung non-descript brick structure in the heart of the Disney campus in Glendale, CA. In early January I had the opportunity to play-test the game behind the upcoming Toy Story Midway Mania! Inside the building is a singular space filled with room dividers and bulletin boards but squinting through the darkness I could make out a projection screen and a rickety-looking wooden platform at the back of the room. Climbing the steps to the seats on the platform I was handed the requisite 3-D glasses as I sat down. .

Two and a half years ago senior show writer Kevin Rafferty and his Blue Sky concept partner Robert Coltrin (the pair have worked on a host of attractions together including Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! and the upcoming Radiator Springs Racers at Disney�s California Adventure) were wandering around Paradise Pier and brainstorming potential ideas that would fit into the land�s theme. Staring at the string of Midway Games built under the California Screamin� coaster it dawned on them that they could replace the games with a ride-through Midway game experience. The concept raised an additional question: who would host the attraction? Both agreed that the Toy Story and Toy Story 2 characters would be perfect.

As Kevin continued: �We were thinking about what would be the next generation totally immersive ride-through attraction that is also a game. Usually on any project of this scale we have to go through numerous storyboard sessions, models and pitches to refine and hone the concept but management got wind very early and within six weeks we were off and running. I�ve been with WDI for nearly 30 years and I don�t think I have ever worked on a project that has been advanced through the management ranks as quickly as Midway Mania!�