For Us, Toy Story Land Was a Dud

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It is currently a total bottleneck- it is a dead end. It looks like that is going to be a lot better once Star Wars land opens, because it looks like the path will go on around in that direction. It will no longer be basically like a cul-de-sac. Once it is not a dead end bottleneck, you will not have massive amounts of people on the path trying to get in and out of the same entry/exit point.

There has been speculation/rumors that at least initially you won't be able to enter Star Wars land from Toy Story. It will be exit only INTO Toy Story. If that proves to be true, it will likely be a lot worse rather than better. This would be a lot like the flow into and out of Pandora when it first opened so it's seems a likely possibility.
 
I thought it was super cute! Slinky Dog was a hoot. I just don't think DHS is a finished park right now. I thought of TSL like a Foyer remodel. Star wars is going to be the main living space.
 
I like comparing Toy Story Land to other "kids" lands, past and present. Toy Story Land falls short of Toontown and Dinoland, but is a step above Bugs Land at California Adventure. (but there is nothing quite like riding Heimlich 3 times in a row on a mild California evening)

I say this from an overall "degree of immersion/theming" viewpoint. Yes, TSMM and Slinky Dog are awesome, but the land is...meh.
 
Some guests do have physical issues that preclude standing/walking for a long time in direct sun. With the narrowness of the entry to the land it was quite congested. We saw large groups of make a wish families. And there are many others of all ages.
QueenElinor-- Based on what we saw, you have probably made the right decision. It was packed and there were lots of people trying to eat standing up because they could not find an empty table. I would like to try eating there, but maybe when the initial crowds die down.

Thanks for bringing this up.:thumbsup2 I don't complain about the heat just because we're not comfy. :rolleyes:

Maybe it's our ethnicity (as noted in my avatar, lol), but two of my three kids have had heat exhaustion- my daughter has had it twice. I've got RA so standing around for very long is not something I can do. Because of the arthritis, I also can't ride RnR or ToT, so at least I'll have a FP to use on SDD (which I am hoping will be a much milder ride!). Then I plan have the rest of the family join me at TSM to use their third FPs. Then we'll head out to SciFi for lunch!

I think that's a doable plan for a late arrival morning. We typically head back to the resort after lunch and then come back in the evening.

I might even make that SDD FP for evening- then we can see it lit up at night. And for once, they can watch ME ride! :p
TSL is what it is-Disney will be judged by SWL.

I am pretty sure TSM will remain my favorite ride even after the Star Wars land opens. Personally not interested in Star Wars. Hoping toy story land will empty out when Star Wars opens, and I get to ride TSM with all the other kids, big and small.
I hope SWL works out for Disney. The last couple of SW movies have been a disappointment box-office wise, and they're canceling a couple that had been in the works. I myself am an old-school SW fan, enough so that I nixed the idea of the dessert party once I found out the Galactic show focused more on the new movies, which makes sense for Disney, of course, just not for me.

But the sluggishness of the SW franchise is a worry. Let's hope that the apparent budget-cutting that happened with TSL doesn't play out again in SWL.
 
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Thanks for bringing this up.:thumbsup2 I don't complain about the heat just because we're not comfy. :rolleyes:

Maybe it's our ethnicity (as noted in my avatar, lol), but two of my three kids have had heat exhaustion- my daughter has had it twice. I've got RA so standing around for very long is not something I can do. Because of the arthritis, I also can't ride RnR or ToT, so at least I'll have a FP to use on SDD (which I am hoping will be a much milder ride!). Then I plan have the rest of the family join me at TSM to use their third FPs. Then we'll head out to SciFi for lunch!

I think that's a doable plan for a late arrival morning. We typically head back to the resort after lunch and then come back in the evening.

I might even make that SDD FP for evening- then we can see it lit up at night. And for once, they can watch ME ride! :p


I hope SWL works out for Disney. The last couple of SW movies have been a disappointment box-office wise, and they're canceling a couple that had been in the works. I myself am an old-school SW fan, enough so that I nixed the idea of the dessert party once I found out the Galactic show focused more on the new movies, which makes sense for Disney, of course, just not for me.

But the sluggishness of the SW franchise is a worry. Let's hope that the apparent budget-cutting that happened with TSL doesn't play out again in SWL.

My daughter (whose 23rd birthday is today!!) is a blue eyed red headed fair skinned young lady. She has been to Disney many times with a whole lot of skin block and hats that characters have signed. She too has suffered with heat exhaustion, although not at Disney as our touring style has never been commando and always involved lots of breaks. She wasn’t with us during this last trip as she had graduated college and started her first professional job, but I can’t see her waiting in the sun for hours to do Slinky dog. It wouldn’t be smart or the least bit fun.
 
There has been speculation/rumors that at least initially you won't be able to enter Star Wars land from Toy Story. It will be exit only INTO Toy Story. If that proves to be true, it will likely be a lot worse rather than better. This would be a lot like the flow into and out of Pandora when it first opened so it's seems a likely possibility.

Well this isn’t good news. Hope fellow dis posters come back and report when the back door to toy story land opens both ways.
 


Wow .. some people here think TSL land is worse than Dinoland USA? Yikes.

Looking forward to it .. two weeks (to the day)until we step foot in Toy Story Land ourselves! With two kids (2 and 6) totally into Toy Story, I am pretty sure they will enjoy it .. and hopefully November brings less reason to worry about no shade.

But yes .. the lack of ANY indoor space or gift shop (as you leave the rides) is just shocking. They redid the TSMM queue .. they couldn't have plopped a store there on exit?

I mean .. Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin has a small gift shop and photo op (with Zerg).

Not everyone can ride SDD, so having an Air Conditioned space for those waiting on their family to ride SDD is key to a land in my opinion .. be it shop, M&G or restaurant.

Design around the guest experience Disney, not just the "rides".
 
We just went to Toy Story Land last week for the first time and I have to say I wasn't thrilled either. The lack of shade was a HUGE issue for me. But I don't handle heat well so I travel in the slightly more tolerable seasons. I can't even imagine what it would be like in the summer. This was just a low 80s not so humid but very sunny day and I was desperate for some shade. The fact that the only eatery also only had outdoor seating and served mostly hot food was a disappointment for sure. The lines were LONG and the wait I had for just a soda and a lunch box tart was insane. It seemed partially because they were focused on mobile orders where the people hadn't even shown up yet. No idea if this is a regular issue but it happened over and over again while I stood in line.

TSM is always tons of fun, but Slinky Dog wasn't nearly as exciting as I was expecting from reviews. Pretty short ride all in all. Definitely a kiddy ride and my 7 year old loved it, but I'd never stand in line an hour for it. We got some cute pictures with the giant Woody and a couple other places, but full disclosure I'm not a huge fan of the movies. I love TSM cause it's fun, but I have no nostalgia factor from the film.

I agree with the general thought that they could have done better.
 
Everyone complaining about no shade. I’m like so? I live in hot and humid GA and though my shop has A/C, I really enjoy being outside every weekend working in my yard. The heat never really bothers me and when we were there at the beginning of September it was really really hot! I just grab a cool drink and move along.

I'd say you're pretty lucky then. I don't handle heat well at all. I usually avoid Florida after early May through October for this reason. We had a generally mild week last week, but the sun was a definite issue for me in TSL on Wednesday. When it's extremely hot I feel it the moment I walk outside. It's like my body wants to just shut down and it makes me very sleepy and dizzy. I get nauseous and shaky and develop heat stroke symptoms pretty quickly. I didn't get to that point last week, but I was in line to get a cold drink for a good 40 minutes in TSL with most of that in the sun. And many people around us throughout that area were audibly complaining or commenting on the lack of shade.

In most areas of the Disney Parks I can get out of the heat as needed and pop into a shop, restaurant or at least stand in some shade when needed. Or it's in and out of cooler rides. TSL was a very noticeable difference in that regard.
 
I'd say you're pretty lucky then. I don't handle heat well at all. I usually avoid Florida after early May through October for this reason. We had a generally mild week last week, but the sun was a definite issue for me in TSL on Wednesday. When it's extremely hot I feel it the moment I walk outside. It's like my body wants to just shut down and it makes me very sleepy and dizzy. I get nauseous and shaky and develop heat stroke symptoms pretty quickly. I didn't get to that point last week, but I was in line to get a cold drink for a good 40 minutes in TSL with most of that in the sun. And many people around us throughout that area were audibly complaining or commenting on the lack of shade.

In most areas of the Disney Parks I can get out of the heat as needed and pop into a shop, restaurant or at least stand in some shade when needed. Or it's in and out of cooler rides. TSL was a very noticeable difference in that regard.

Did you get to try mobile ordering? It really does cut down so much on the time just standing in the sun. We ate at Lunch Box in October, and just found a table after placing the mobile order and had our food/drinks in about 5 minutes. The app tells you when it is ready and you just walk up. Not sure if there was a reason you didn’t use it, but it can be a real time and aggrevation saver. I agree completely that those lines all in the sun are so brutal and really unnecessary because how much does it cost to throw up a sun shade Disney??
 
Maybe they should have made a huge store at the entrance designed to look like Andy's house with an exit to the land. That would have totally worked with the theming. For those that didn't want to go through the store, they would just walk beside his house to the back yard.
 
OP, I'm sorry you didn't like TSL. I think it's important for anyone going to Disney to remember that you're not going to like everything, even if something is really hyped up. We actually skipped AKL on our first trip this summer. I asked my husband if he cared about Pandora at all and he said nope, and I said good, me neither. I'm sure we'll get to it eventually, but we only had so many days. So, if a land is not for you, it's not for you.

I do see that some of your complaints (lack of shade, seating, etc) are things that people noticed immediately when TSL opened back in June. Had you read any of those threads before going? Doing so can be so helpful - I think I stalked the TSL thread every day between opening day and our trip in August. We didn't have a FP for SDD, so we went at RD and only waited about 15-20 mins. Our kids cried, while us adults loved it. The Alien ride - kids loved. We rode TSMM twice, once with a FP+, once only waiting 10 mins. We did the land in less than 2 hours, and it was shaded for most of that time. So even though it was August, we weren't melting (we definitely melted later on that day!)

Totally agree about the dead end, and the fact that most of HS is dead ends. I hope as the park undergoes its transformation, this can be addressed. It was definitely the hardest park to navigate, for us. But, it does seem as though TSL's dead end will be a temporary thing.

Finally, if you don't have kids or aren't into Toy Story, I can totally see not liking it. We have kids, obviously, so they wanted to see it, but both DH and I love Toy Story too. We loved all the little details. Are there things that can be fixed? (shade, seating) Absolutely. Were there missed opportunities? (Andy's Toy Barn, for example) Yes, unfortunately. But, there is room to expand, and I think it will be interesting to see what/if they do anything after SWGE is completed.
 
Just experienced it a couple of days ago as well. It didn’t blow our socks off or anything but we didn’t think it was a waste of space. I actually liked SDD more than I thought I was gonna like it. TSM is always one of our favorites. I’ll have to agree with some about AS2, we had a fast pass for it and when we got off we said we wouldn’t wait more than 15-20 min. It was 75 min that day. Wanted to try Woody’s but it was just too crowded with no tables to sit.
 
I hated that woody’s lunchbox had huge appetizing photos of fruit hung everywhere but not a speck of fruit on the actual menu.:confused3
 
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Did you get to try mobile ordering? It really does cut down so much on the time just standing in the sun. We ate at Lunch Box in October, and just found a table after placing the mobile order and had our food/drinks in about 5 minutes. The app tells you when it is ready and you just walk up. Not sure if there was a reason you didn’t use it, but it can be a real time and aggrevation saver. I agree completely that those lines all in the sun are so brutal and really unnecessary because how much does it cost to throw up a sun shade Disney??

I've never been able to use the app because we have food allergies so I always have to check ingredients and check on alternative options that aren't usually listed. In this case they didn't have any safe food for my son, but they did have apple juice at least which wasn't on the posted menus, so I have to ask for it. I'd love to be able to use the app though.
 
I didn’t know you could ask for things not on the memu at counter service. Worth skipping mobile ordering in this case for sure.
 
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