Posted by
Mike and Chris Pettey
Updated on January 17, 2021
Category:
Disney vs. Disney
Tags:
Hollywood Studios
Hong Kong Disneyland
Shanghai Disneyland
Toy Story Land
Walt Disney Studios Park
Toy Story Land is a themed area within Disney’s theme parks, focused on characters, stories, and adventures from the Disney/Pixar Toy Story franchise. The land can be found at four of the six Disney Resorts across the globe. We’ve visited every Toy Story Land in person.
Major Similarities & Differences
You can watch fantastic videos of all versions of the land online, so we won’t spend time re-hashing the details of each experience. Instead, we will just point out the major similarities and differences we feel are worth calling out:
- Each Toy Story Land opened as a part of an expansion to its respective park. None of the lands or rides existed when the parks originally opened.
- The Toy Story Mania attraction – found in the Florida version – is also found in the California and Tokyo resorts, but in different lands, as those two resorts do not contain Toy Story Lands. California’s is located in Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure, and Tokyo’s is located in American Waterfront at Tokyo DisneySea.
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- The RC Racer attraction, a vehicle that travels at high speeds across a large U-shaped track, is considered a “roller coaster”. As a result, each Toy Story Land contains one roller coaster attraction, with Slinky Dog Dash at the Florida resort, and RC Racer (called “Rex’s Racer” in Shanghai) at the other three resorts.
- An attraction based on Buzz Lightyear, a major character from the Toy Story franchise, exists in 5 of the six Disney resorts in the world, however it is not included in Toy Story Land in any location.
The Rankings (from least favorite to favorite)
Like the rest of this very unimpressive “theme park”, Toy Story Land in Paris is shoved into whatever space is available, with minimal theming, poor sightlines, and a generic assortment of attractions. The land sits sort-of-in-the-middle of this park, in the shadow of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and across from the impressive Parisian themed courtyard that houses Ratatouille: The Adventure, and the Bistro Chez Remy restaurant. As far as attractions go, the Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin and RC Racer, while both fun, are identical to their clones found in Hong Kong and Shanghai. And the Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop provides some rather uninspiring views of the rest of this neglected park. Food offerings are virtually non-existent, as is entertainment. Truthfully, it’s hard to find much to compliment, as this land feels totally out of place – but then, at least that’s consistent with the rest of the Walt Disney Studios Park. We’d hope for improvements to Paris’s Toy Story Land, but none appear to be on the horizon, as the major expansion planned for this park won’t do much to this area. If it’s not already obvious, this is the weakest of the pack, and rightfully the worst Toy Story Land in the world.
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Toy Story Land was added to Hong Kong Disneyland as part of its mid 2010’s massive three land expansion, to help bolster this struggling theme park. It was much needed, but the fact that the other two new lands – the fantastic Grizzly Gulch and the incredible Mystic Point – are both leaps and bounds ahead, mean that this Toy Story Land isn’t much to brag about. Here the attraction roster is almost identical to the Paris park, with the RC Racer, Slinky Dog Spin, and Toy Soldier Parachute Drop attractions. Shopping and snacks exist, but on a minimal level, and again leave much to be desired. On a positive note, the land is nicely themed, and segregated off from the rest of the park in a way that at least creates a convincing themed land, unlike its Paris counterpart. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the Hong Kong Toy Story Land is the empty pad at the end of the land, clearly a place where a Toy Story Mania dark ride would fit in perfectly, both physically and thematically. Yet to date, no plans exist to add this attraction where it is so obviously needed. As such, Toy Story Land in Hong Kong is decent, but that’s about it. And third place will have to do.
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While on the surface the Shanghai park’s version of Toy Story Land may feel very similar to its Hong Kong cousin, there are enough differences here that result in a much better experience. Yes, Rex’s Racer is just a clone of the RC Racer found in other parks. And yes, Slinky Dog Spin is the same. But in Shanghai, the parachute drop ride gives way to Woody’s Roundup, which is an absolutely adorable version of the Alien Swirling Saucers and Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree attractions found in the US parks. Beyond this, the land hosts Al’s Toy Barn, a heavily themed retail area, and Toy Box Café’ a fantastically immersive assortment of counter service windows and seating. The land here is themed to the max – clearly as the newest Toy Story Land, Disney learned a few lessons, and really upped the ante. The paths are wider, the music is louder, and everything shines and sparkles in this land that is separated nicely off from the rest of the park. Even the entertainment is better at the Shanghai version, with more offerings scattered throughout the land. It lacks a real headliner attraction, and that’s a big drawback, but Shanghai’s Toy Story Land is the best of the “traditional” Toy Story Lands on this list – and the second-best version of the land in the world.
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To be honest, at the other three resorts, Toy Story Land is mostly an afterthought. It’s not what guests go to the park to experience, and, unless your group is being led by the preschool set, it’s likely the last thing on your list of priorities. In Florida, however, it’s a completely different story. Here, Toy Story Land is a fully fleshed-out land, worth everyone’s time and attention, with not only one, but two solid headliner attractions to really flex its muscles. Toy Story Mania is the headliner dark ride, with an interactive element that never seems to get old. Disney has two separate tracks for this ride, to handle the large Florida crowds, so the waits are usually reasonable. And then, there is the Slinky Dog Dash roller coaster. At first glance, this may seem geared toward the kids. In reality, this is a fantastically themed, lengthy coaster that moves around, over, and through the land in a beautiful and thrilling way, including two separate launch sections, adding to the excitement. Throw in the fun Alien Swirling Saucers spinner, and you’ve got by far the best attraction line-up of any Toy Story Land out there. Woody’s Lunch Box is not only a cute counter service eatery, but it actually contains some of the better food offerings in this theme park. And the upcoming Roundup Rodeo BBQ will add a full-service indoor dining experience to provide great balance. Entertainment is a bit lacking for the size of the land, but that’s a minor quibble. Overall the Florida version of Toy Story Land really delivers, and is without a doubt the best version of the land on the planet.
Written by
Mike and Chris Pettey
YOUR THOUGHTS?
Agree or disagree with our rankings? Have you experienced any of these lands – either in person, or virtually via the internet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
4 Comments
What would you rank all the avengers campus
Have not been to Paris since the re-theme and opening of Web Slingers, but that one has to be at the bottom of the list by default because of how bad the coaster re-theme is. Then in comparing the other two…Ant-Man is vastly superior to Web-Slingers in every conceivable way so that gives HK the edge…but then when comparing the big rides, Guardians outshines Iron Man for sure. Plus California also has all the entertainment and Pym’s. So probably 1) CA; 2) HK; 3) Paris.
That said, we won’t do an official post about this until we get to experience the Paris version in person. That’s our “one rule”. 🙂
I think that flight force is verry underated and is a good retheme but I can see where it gets hate since the screens and lighting can be improved.
And the iron man animatronic looks incredible.