First Pictures from INSIDE Toy Story Playland

[Guest]

Wow! Toy Story Land is going to be one amazing place to be!

[winky]

OOhh! That all looks sooooooo good! we are plannng on going back there in February - cant wait now!

[Peter H]

That looks mega cool

[JamelUK]

RC Racer is the "thrill" ride of the 3 new attractions at Toy Story Playland, and can clearly be seen rising from the grass at the back of the area. 100 year old trees from the surrounding forest, as well as bamboo which has been newly planted will help to hide much of this from the rest of the Disneyland Paris resort. It also helps that it has been deliberately placed at the lowest point of the land.


RC Racer will seat 20 guests in 5 rows of 4 guests in an 8 ton vehicle thats been themed to look like Andy's toy radio controlled car - "RC" - that featured in the final scenes of the first Toy Story movie.


According to Jim Shull, the Imagineer in charge of the whole Toy Story Playland project, the original concept was only for 16 passengers, but John Lasseter insisted they added another row to help increase ride capacity.

Even so, they are expecting large numbers of people wanting to ride it, and so they have developed a long and uniquely themed queue line.


It winds its way around the old trees in the style of a Scalextrix track. There is hardly any straight section to the queue in its first section. Railings come in the form of safety and crash barriers and lighting is provided by orange hazard cones.


A special touch in the queue line is this giant "On/Off" lever, which actually moves depending on whether the ride is running on the track, or waiting for loading at the station.


The queue winds around what will look to most like a toy petrol station. This is actually the electrical power plant for the ride. Keen eyed Pixar fans will note the attention to detail, using the fictional brand name of Dinoco from the first Toy Story movie.


The line continues to twist and turn for quite a distance yet - the Imagineers not wanting to make the same mistake as Crush's Coaster and keen that guests queue inside the confines of the attraction, not on the main walkway.


Eventually it makes its way into the ride station where the walls are adorned with plastic building parts to build another radio controlled car.



Finally its time to board the vehicle, and its worth taking the time to study this magnificently themed beast. There is attention to detail all around the car, both at front and back as well of course on the sides with life sized versions of the knobbly all terrain tyres.


Riders must be 1.20 Meters (47") tall to ride - the same as Rock 'n' Rollercoaster. The seats, which are actually dark purple rather than black, have over the head restraints and belts. At the back they have storage compartments for bags and loose items. Remember, the half pipe actually goes slightly beyond vertical!



RC is propelled out of the station by an electro magnetic system similar to Rock 'n' Rollercoaster. This is an interesting contrast to the chain/pulley system which is normally used for these "Disko" type rides and should provide much greater acceleration. The ride will make several passes back and froth through the station getting higher and higher on each run. The total ride duration is expected to be a little over 1 minute.


The theming has been completed to enclose as much of the steel track support as possible, making it look as much like the intended Hot Wheels track as possible.


At the ride exit a smaller, stationary RC is placed next to a piece of ride track to allow for photo opportunities.


With thanks again to DLP Info for the photos. They promise one last wrap up of photos tommorow, so make sure you pop back for more!

[Guest]

Is it me James or do I recall a ride (years ago) at Alton Towers that was very similar to RC Racer? They flung you up a huge curve only for it to come down backwards and then return to its start point. It was dismantled so they could build Nemesis.

[JamelUK]

Originally Posted by geoffa

Is it me James or do I recall a ride (years ago) at Alton Towers that was very similar to RC Racer? They flung you up a huge curve only for it to come down backwards and then return to its start point.

See more...

Do you mean the wonderful Thunder Looper Geoff?


Removed sadly due to another one of those silly bylaws AT is victim too - it was higher than tree height.


It was a beast of a thing, and one of the last examples of the Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop - powered by a steel cable attached to a BIG concrete weight that was dropped down a steel tower. It made a great noise!


Not quite the same thing as RC Racer, but similar concept.

Its now living at the Hopi Hari theme park in Brazil and is known as "Katapult" - you can see the piston tower in white at the back.

[JamelUK]

Right next to Slinky Dog's Zig Zag Spin under one of the big trees stands Rex.


Just like Buzz Lightyear at the main entrance, Rex is a large statue, easily allowing younger guests to stand between his legs, whilst adults can stand upright underneath his head.


And just like Buzz, rex talks! In both French and English, the English version being voiced by Wallace Shawn who is the original actor in the movies.


The imagineers have recorded several phrases for Rex to talk with the guests. But there's a great suprise.

Rex talks to Slinky in the Zig Zag Spin! Rex encouraging him to go faster and faster, and Slinky answering back!

[jazzluvva]

Amazing pics! Looks like we''ll need to plan again for next year, this area was still boarded up! the advantages of being a CM i guess!

[JamelUK]

Further into Toy Story Playland, past Rex and towards RC Racer, the monkeys from the game "Barrel Of Monkeys" have formed a chain high above your heads.


Some of them hold Scrabble letters, spelling out either WELCOME or GOODBYE depending on which side you view it from.


On the right you may notice that the Tinker Toy structure has been fashioned to look like a person. Around the area, other Tinker Toys have also been set up to represent familar objects.


At this end of Toy Story Playland you will notice the two halves of the monkey's barrel. One half will form a tunnel, leading you back into the rest of Walt Disney Studios, whilst the other is to become a shop.



This shop was apparently a late decision in the desing of the area, and so is running a little behind on construction. However, you can see that already a lot of themeing elements have been added and are just waiting for a bit of paint.



Back to that tunnel, which you will see here on the right - where it leads to is quite interesting...


But for more details on that, check back tommorow!

[NatsyNoo]

Looking brilliant...100 days til we can ride!