Toy Story Land (Hollywood Studios)

In April we were given the chance to check out Toy Story Land for the first time. Given we had just returned from Disneyland and California Adventure a few weeks prior, I felt like this would give me a good opportunity to compare this new land against Adventure's Cars Land.

Toy Story is built as if you're a toy in Andy's backyard (think the now-retired Honey, I Shrunk The Kids' play area). We have a giant wooden fence that surrounds the area, with giant Andy footprints stamped into the concrete. Benches are made of things like popsicle sticks and there are Christmas lights strewn everywhere. We weren't able to stick around at night, but I imagine this being used to great effect. Toy Story Land has two new rides with a re-routed Midway Mania entrance: a more tame version of Mater Jamboree in the form of Alien Swirling Saucers and the Slinky Dog Dash coaster from Mack, who sure has been busy this year!

I won't go into Alien as it just the same as Mater, being the tractor pull style turntable ride. Think Mater takes the vote here, it's got a better soundtrack! Though Alien is in the shade... Slinky Dog is a double-laucher from Mack. The premise is that Andy customizes his coaster kit to allow Slinky Dog to fly down the tracks. Andy sounds like some kind of genius. The double-launch is an interesting way to keep capacity high, even though I don't think it's working as well as Disney hoped. After all, this is a kids' ride and kids take forever to load up into anything.

The first launch acts as a first hill leading to the first drop. After twisting and turning through the backyard we reach our second launch where rings of 'Go!' are surrounding the track. We take off, make a sharp turn, go over some airtime humps and turn towards the station where we get serenaded by Wheezy the Penguin.

I'm on the fence here of calling Slinky Dog an E-ticket. It's immensely popular and a fun smooth coaster, but it's lack of aggression I think bumps it down. As a result, I would definitely put Toy Story Land below Cars Land. Radiator Springs is just a phenomenal E-ticket, and the area doesn't feel as restricted (an open Route 66 desert area vs the fenced-in backyard). That said, the green army men is fun entertainment and the area is a good way to bring more kids into a park that didn't really previously tailor to them much. I'm sure I'll check it out again in the fall, as it'll definitely be less crowded when Star Wars rolls along in August.