OK, this one sounded far-fetched when I first heard it a few weeks ago, but it seems to be gaining a lot of traction…
So, it seems the reason that Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post and Frozen Funland is on the move is to free up Soundstage 1 next door to Toy Story Midway Mania. Since 2008, that location was the rumored location for the proposed Monsters Inc. Door Roller Coaster that will now likely never see the light of day based on the disappointing box office and merchandise sales (at least in Disney’s eyes) from Monsters University. Well, the plan as it now exists would see a third, separate track for Toy Story Midway Mania constructed inside of Soundstage 1, perhaps to be used as a FastPass+ guest only track. This would add 50% more capacity to the ride which has been overburdened pretty much since the day it opened. Toy Story Midway Mania was supposed to be a solid ‘B’ or ‘C’ ticket attraction for the park, but exceeded all expectations with its continued popularity.
It is certainly no secret that Hollywood Studios will see major changes in the coming years and a Star Wars Expansion of the park is sure to take place following the beginning of the new trilogy in late-2015, so making sure the capacity around the rest of the park is higher is a priority. Other minor PIXAR attractions could also be constructed around the area where the Backlot Tour entrance and Studios Catering Company currently stand, but we’re only guessing that at this point. Who knows, we even may still see Cars Land take over more of the space down the road as the land expands south in the park.
The rumors emanate from some Studios cast members who have heard rumblings about the changes, as well as several guests who have spotted Toy Story Mania vehicles being pieced together outside of Walt Disney World Central Shops behind the Magic Kingdom, so this seems like a real possibility at this point.
I know it sounds crazy, but the PIXAR Place expansion maybe happening, it just might be very different from how we envisioned it…
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the lines exist because there are so few ride options in the park. instead of building a duplicate ride, they could build an equally entertaining new ride with better capacity and accomplish the same goal. a clone of a ride will not bring people to the park but a new well designed ride would. seems kind of lazy to me.
Since i clearly do not understand business, could you and your MBA please explain it to me? The business aspect as I see would be that they can clone a ride for cheaper than to build a new one, which is lazy. It will improve the guest experience slightly by decreasing wait times but no one is going to make an extra trip to HS because they wait 30min instead of 75min to ride one ride. Also, is the ride really that popular or appears to be because of the long lines of a slow loading attraction? Look at the wait times in California. Why is that one significantly less? Same ride.
that’s the thing they aren’t looking to get people to make an extra trip there they are doing it to make it easier for those that already have made the trip to DHs so they can do something else other then wait in line all day.
Many similar rides have very different wait times coast to coast, but Toy Story Mania in California is still often over 45 minutes. There are also less attractions at Hollywood Studios and it takes a lot more effort to park hop at WDW than at DLR.
As the post states, smaller PIXAR attractions should be constructed at the same time, but they still don’t expect lines to dwindle.
should be or could be? Your quote is “but we’re only guessing that at this point.”
I am fairly certain that if they added more rides at Hollywood Studios instead of another Toy Story clone, lines would dwindle at Toy Story. You kind of make that point in your comment below “There are also less attractions at Hollywood Studios”
They can build a 3rd Toy Story in the short time but its only going to get people out of that park faster since the options are limited.
Just because they make another (equally entertainint) ride….doesnt mean people would not want to ride this one…therefore these lines will not cease to exist. Making a greater capacity sounds like a great idea to me!! Wouldnt mind being able to ride more than once!! :-)
[…] By Tom Corless […]
While I understand increasing the ride capacity, it does seem lazy to me. I love the Haunted Mansion but I would rather have the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean then just have a shorter wait on Haunted Mansion.
I agree with bp90210, the only thing getting people on toy story faster is going to accomplish is getting people out of the park faster and back to Magic Kingdom or Epcot (and perhaps soon Animal Kingdom) since they are parks truly worth spending a day at, while Hollywood Studios is certainly not even worth half a day in my opinion (and clearly in the opinion of guests, since HS is the least visited of the four parks in WDW. The only thing that they should be spending their money on in HS is adding NEW attractions to attract visitors and getting people to stay longer (thereby spending more money on food, merchandsise, etc.) not just getting people in and out of the park faster.
I agree with bp as well, this is a lazy and unimaginative move on their part. Toy Story continues to be popular, however, an expansion of PIXAR Place could be so much better! Why can’t they put in an Incredibles ride here? Or a Cars ride? I’m not saying they need to put in a ton of money into it, though to be honest I think they should given the continued price increases with nothing new of substance in the park, only things taken away (Idol, AFI, parade, etc… feels like a lot to me). I would LOVE to see a carbon copy of the new Ratatouille ride here instead. It’s already designed and it wouldn’t take up too much space, would it?
Monsters University grossed $743,559,607 though !
Toy Story Mania in DC does not have FastPass.
Toy Story in California Adventure doesn’t have the incredible lines that TSMM in DHS has. The problem is there aren’t enough rides for the kids. We need more E ticket rides, not a bunch of b, c attractions. Something everyone would enjoy. Just because MU was a disappointment doesn’t mean a Monsters Inc Roller Coaster would be bad. Disney made a mistake in taking out Mister Toad’s Wild Ride. There was enough room for both attractions. Just because the film wasn’t that big and people were forgetting it doesn’t mean it wasn’t a fun ride. Disney should realize it’s providing a fun experience for the family should be #1 and not highlighting its hits.
Disneysource on the Disboards was right with his or her post “12 Hollywood Studios Rumors”. Pixar Place’s expansion and Lucas Land looks like it is going to happen.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3285443
I would love to see a clone of the new Ratatouille ride in Disneyland Paris to make its way over to Pixar Place. With the next most successful franchise to Toy Story already having its own pavillion in Epcot (Finding Nemo) I think Ratatouille would be great diversification. Also, in regards to the de-incentivizing guests to visit other Disney parks argument, I believe that will not occur with the Ratatouille ride addition because I bet most people from the US will be more likely to visit both WDW and DLR in California more than they will be likely to visit Disneyland Paris; therefore bringing Cars Land east would be bad for business. This ride will also bring new interest to Pixar’s most underrated film. Only having Toy Story be the only Pixar franchise represented is a real shame and I hope they do anything else than a third queue to TSM.
Side Bar, I would also love to see this land littered with more animatronic figures ( ie. luxo jr.) and make the environment itself an attraction