Surely any new theme park attraction faces its share of problems in the early days of its existence. Who hasn’t heard the horror stories of Disneyland’s opening day back in 1955? However, the year is 2018 and Disney has been in the theme park business for over 63 years now, so some of the problems plaguing the new Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios seem more like oversights than things that a company with a wealth of experience in the field would need to learn this late in the game.
First up, let’s talk about the plastic fences. The Slinky Dog Dash roller coaster is surrounded by these hard plastic fences with metal frames. I can’t think of many places in Disney Parks with plastic fences so I’m not sure how these happened here. Long story short, the fences were deemed hazardous and areas surrounding the coaster with these plastic fences have been roped off from guest access. This is a real shame since these areas offer the best vistas the new land has to offer.
Many of the fences have been covered up with wood boards to make sure a guest doesn’t bust through them and fall into the ride area. Cast members in the area were told it had something to do with the height of the fence, but boarding the lower area up would do absolutely nothing to fix such an issue.
Maybe if Imagineers had been provided the original budget intended for the land, we could have had sturdy metal fences to start?
This viewing area was closed off thanks to the fence issues.
Cast members are now stationed near all of these fences to make sure guests don’t go near them.
Here’s a look up at the fences from the Slinky Dog Dash roller coaster.
This side was not yet boarded up when we last visited.
On the other side of the land, the men’s restroom has had an interesting issue: all of the urinals were built at child height…
This has led to some interesting issues, including male guests “missing their target” and leaving puddles on the floor. Custodial cast members can be found in here constantly mopping the floor.
At Woody’s Lunch Box (see our breakfast and lunch/dinner reviews if you’ll be visiting soon), the Monte Cristo sandwich has already been removed. This was our personal favorite, so its a huge loss for the new restaurant. Cast members claimed that it wasn’t popular, but we assume the need to make french toast style bread for this dish slowed down the production in the kitchen and it was easier to just keep all of the items that are on the other style of bread.
And of course, no post complaining about Toy Story Land would be complete without talking about the lack of shade. Guests will find no refuge from the Florida Summer heat and rain in Toy Story Land other than portions of queues. The character meet and greets put guests out in the hot sun, large portions of queue for Alien Swirling Saucers and Slinky Dog Dash are outdoors with no cover, and most umbrellas in the area can only be found above some tables at Woody’s Lunch Box, often leading to guests without food taking up tables needed for those who actually ordered something to eat or drink.
Despite the land being rather cute and charming, it has some serious issues right out of the gate, some of which won’t be easy to fix in an attractive, well-themed manner. Hopefully in the weeks and months ahead, much of this will be addressed for the future enjoyment of guests. Before the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge would be nice…
You know, I’m glad this is finally getting some notice. I’ve heard mixed reviews on the quality of the land except for the obvious iconic nods to toys — basically, the technical stuff / groundwork looked rushed to meet deadlines. Looking forward to how Disney can fix this
It seems conceivable that a square-patterned plastic fence could be easily broken if you’re able to push on it with enough force (like a kick). It appears to be thick, but by adding a back-plate you reduce the distance it can deflect. Plus, even though I’m sure the plastic is rated for UV exposure in the Florida sun, plastics loose strength when expose to heat… like being exposed to the Florida sun. Either way, with or without the back-plate, it still looks cool!
awesome post! thank you so much for the information. love from brazil
Wow. I was wondering why so many areas were blocked off.
this seems to be a common problem with when Disney imagineering handles a project then its handed over to parks and resorts. WDI makes a land/ride on aesthetics and theme budget isn’t really ever the issue. Then once it gets handed over to P&R its there job to fix all the issue that come after. It has happened at many of the projects over recent years and not really surprising anymore. I just would think at this point they would put someone on there that may have some input to make it so these things are fixed before hand.
I’m going to take heat with what I’m about to say but here goes, I wasn’t impressed with the layout. Disney had a lot more room for this “land” and much of it feels like you’re corralled like a cow. The lack of shade makes me feel sorry for the people not use to the Florida heat. Hopefully these issues will be fixed and soon.
I agree! It feels rushed and the land should have been better thought out for crowds / influx of visitors.
Darn, I have a few people in my upcoming group who really wanted that Monte Cristo sandwich (me included) in December. Here’s hoping they do something about the fences & lack of shade, plus add more seating at the Lunch Box.
Skimp on the budget and you get AVOIDABLE problems.
…just saying…
Just a thought, I know Disney is re-purposing a Bugs Land ride for Pixar Pier so in the same vein, could they be waiting until A Bugs Land closes to reuse the large blades of grass or even just the clovers for some shade? I have not been to the new Toy Story Land so I don’t know what it would do to the sight lines and I don’t think the scale would be correct given the size of a bug compared to the pictures of the scale of Toy Story Land. It’s probably insane to even think this but who knows.
Great point!
I may be in the minority but fences lead you to where you are allowed to be. They are not for kicking, seating, hanging off of etc.
I thought maybe little hands were getting stuck in the fencing. Yes there is a lack of shade, maybe they could at least add more misters for cooling?
If it was the bread preparation, can we also expect the s’mores french toast sandwich at breakfast to be gone soon?
We are not impressed with toy story land. All the readons you mentioned and the managed to make it much mire difficult to access toy story ride and the path to keave was not estheti, the walk wad long and hot and it takes you out to the crowded lunch box area. Dumb dumb ! poorly thought out _ crowded and hot hot hot!
Meanwhile, the real fact they changed the menu, like they change many things at Disney, is because of whiny entitled people who think their opinion is the only one that matters. The same people who complained so much, they removed the wenches from POTC. So cry me a river, stop complaining, get over it, move on.
It was a big let down. The cast members were rude. Disney could have done so much more with the land.
How very California Adventure
In my day they had a shrink you in a backyard land with grass blades, a giant dog nose that sprayed water, ants, slides etc all to scale and it was all next to a covered quickservice with fans, rows of tables and multiple order windows. The giftshop had ac and the restrooms were huge! Best of all they had a Mermaid statue with no sea shell bra outside them it was like France.
Now they want me to melt with no shade, pee in a kids urnal and just have fun and not question the ever changing scale of the toys while paying four times more
This is what Disney World Orlando has become. Honestly the worst run theme parks in the country. Who would have thought? Once build on legacy, and sure, profit mattered. Now, guest experience and safety is completely out of the equation. It’s all about how little they can give guests and just make a buck.
I could care less if they removed a Monte Cristo from the menu — I could think of 100 other things that would better fit a “Woody’s Lunch Box” theme anyway. I am more concerned with the fact that this “land” seems all too Universal-ish to me. Closing down iconic attractions like Great Movie Ride, Backlot Tour, etc. in place of glorified carnival rides (no matter how well-themed or “cute” they are) is depressing, and an all too common trend now at Studios, MK and Epcot (don’t get me started on Horizons, World of Motion or 20,000 Leagues — yes I am very old school). Combined with all the other dumb decisions being made lately (sterile/no-theme resort room renovations, parking fees, gondola ugliness, pet-friendly rooms), it’s getting harder to justify spending the thousands of dollars required to make these trips every year.
Some of the talk going around Studios is that the Monte Cristo got cut because people were making too many modifications, which slowed it down. As if only having two registers and 100 seats for a new land wasn’t going to cause more issues than letting people modify a sandwich.
It seems like almost every other day Alien Swirling Saucers is either down or operating at half capacity. I don’t understand that either. Isn’t it an almost exact replica of the same ride at DCA Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree? We waited in line for way too long for the ride due to it breaking down constantly last Sunday. For all the bad I will say my wife and I absolutely loved Slinky Dog Dash it was one of the most enjoyable roller coasters I’ve been on in a while. We felt like little kids laughing the entire way.
Flash forward to 2028. Disney re-themes Toy Story Land to Coco 3 or some such crap and fans lament the destruction of the “classic, iconic” Toy Story theming that they are currently whining about.