Toy Story Characters Challenge Guests To Ride and Play Toy Story Mania!
Toy Story Characters Challenge Guests To Ride and Play Toy Story Mania!
(March 24, 2008)
Disney Parks guests will don 3-D glasses and enter a wild and wooly 4-D world of
Woody the Cowboy and Buzz Lightyear when Toy Story Mania! premieres this summer.
The attraction will debut on both coasts: at Disney�s Hollywood Studios in Walt
Disney World Resort in Florida, and along the Paradise Pier midway in Disney�s
California Adventure at Disneyland Resort in California.
Celebrating the Disney�Pixar classics �Toy Story� and �Toy Story II,� Toy Story
Mania! raises the bar for interactive ride-game attractions. It�s a high energy,
immersive adventure that makes guests a key part of the action as their game
play triggers special effects that provide a fourth dimension of fun. �Toy Story
Mania!� engages guests in a whole new way with the delightful characters of the
films.
Upon entering the attraction, guests will be 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 for the immersive Toy Story Mania! experience, since he is the
first attraction-based Audio-Animatronics figure who can engage guests in a
two-way conversation.
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,
whose fast travel and spinning add a huge amount of fun to the interactive
experience. The exciting and colorful route takes guests through �Andy�s
Bedroom� filled with oversized murals and toys. The vehicles spin to face Toy
Story Mania! game booths � high-tech yet rooted in classic midway games of skill
� and guests aim for 3-D animated targets using their own on-board
�spring-action shooters.� Players pair up and sit side-by-side for a friendly
competition that delivers an ever-changing variety of targets and surprises.
As they play, guests can actually see the �virtual� objects they�ve launched
leave their �spring-action shooters� and hit the targets (or not). And thanks to
4-D special effects technology, they may sense objects whirring past them as
they pop out of the 3-D scenes.
The Toy Story Mania! games � five of them, plus an introductory practice round �
are designed to be enjoyed by audiences of all ages and skills, from beginners
to serious gamers. Play is energized by the spirit of the �Toy Story� characters
cast in games that best suit their very animated personalities.
First comes the �Pie Throw Practice� round in which guests can try splattering
targets with �virtual� pies.
Next Hamm the pig hosts a �Hamm & Eggs� booth in which players launch �plastic
virtual eggs� at various barnyard targets.
�Bo Peep�s Baaa-loon Pop� presents a landscape full of balloon sheep, trees and
other objects at which guests can launch virtual darts. But players had better
be careful! A popped virtual water balloon might add an additional 4-D wet
dimension to the game.
From there it�s on to �Green Army Men Shoot Camp� where the challenge is to
break plates with baseballs.
Next up is �Buzz Lightyear�s Flying Tossers,� a ring-toss game hosted by
everyone�s favorite space ranger, with Little Green Aliens as the targets.
For the grand finale game, Toy Story Mania! players will ride through Wild West
scenes launching virtual suction-cup darts at targets in �Woody�s Rootin�
Tootin� Shootin� Gallery.� A final �Woody�s Bonus Roundup� encourages guests to
fire their �spring-action shooters� as rapidly as possible at one last
super-target for extra points. When scores are tallied, players� skill levels
are identified with the reward of an onscreen �virtual plush.�
The game play of Toy Story Mania! is accompanied by ingenious musical variations
of Randy Newman�s �You�ve Got A Friend in Me,� arranged by veteran music editor
Bruno Coon, a frequent Newman collaborator, to compliment the games � for
example, a military brass band version for �Green Army Man Shoot Camp.� No
matter how many times guests return to ride and play, they can be sure every
ride-through will be different.
-- Posted March 24, 2008