Is Toy Story Land underperforming?

[DLgal]

I didn't expect this to produce large lines. It is a toddler ride in an adult park.

What a weird statement. A TODDLER ride? It's absolutely not that. It is not a high speed thrill ride, but its a step up from 7DMT in terms of thrill. My kids, at "toddler" age, would have wanted NOTHING to do with a ride like SDD. Toddler ride = Small World, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh...

 

[Orange Team]

Honestly, I think Toontown could make a great replacement for the Animation Courtyard. t could flow well with Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway at the Chinese Theatre. They could throw in more character stuff, still have some shows and meet and greets for kids and add in a couple rides like Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin. (Would love to see this ride come to WDW as it's one of my favorites and has an amazing queue too.) This would add more rides but keep the overall feel of the area similar but be better themed to fit the new feel of the park. With the removal of the toon area at MK it wouldn't feel too similar anymore either.
This would also provide more family attractions that everyone can enjoy from young to old versus just young kids. Galaxy's Edge and potential expansions/rethemes of areas next to it like Indiana Jones can still provide the bigger thrills for teens and up as well.

Toontown in Studios would be sweet. I totally agree with you that WDW needs a copy of Roger's ride from California.

I miss when Roger was in Studios more with the Toon Warehouse and dip mobile. At lease the Maroon Cartoon billboard is still there.

 

[Tksolomom]

or even if not just MK, it's "we have 3 days and are doing 2 at MK and one at AK" or something like that... no one ever skips MK and the first park people will do 2 days at is MK

now, maybe with Galaxy's Edge you will see some people come down just for that - but I also bet many of the people that have never done Disney and are coming for that will at least say "well, while I am here might at least check out Magic Kingdom"

Not us. Epcot and AK are 2 days, HS 1 day and MK one day.

 

[DisFanDad]

It's under performing. Yup, I said it.

Listen we can all debate how big this should have been, what the weather has been like etc. . But, come on now. It's been open for like 2 weeks and I am regularly seeing waits at 1 hour and under.

That is under performing. Disney hyped the hell out of this, on fan sites, social media, and on TV. It's just not drawing the crowds they were hoping .... it's the "Solo" of recent park additions.

It's great (I am sure) but the people just aren't showing up despite how hard disney has tried. May e it's the timing. Maybe it's because its between other bigger openings. Maybe people are waiting for the next one so they can have the full experience (seriously all excuses for why solo did so poorly)... but it IS under performing.

 

[rileyz]

Toontown in Studios would be sweet. I totally agree with you that WDW needs a copy of Roger's ride from California.

I miss when Roger was in Studios more with the Toon Warehouse and dip mobile. At lease the Maroon Cartoon billboard is still there.[/QU

I was so excited to ride Roger Rabbit during my first DL visit in 2016 and even waited a half hour or so for it. I thought it was the worst Disney ride I’ve ever been on. Maybe i expected too much but it fell flat for my whole family.

 

[Lee Matthews]

It's because people are waiting for Galaxies Edge to open too. I really don't think people are going to make a trip just for TSL no matter how good it is.

 

[PuppyJonathan]

Not us. Epcot and AK are 2 days, HS 1 day and MK one day.

Who am I to judge but I’m kind of impressed magic kingdom is one day for you

 

[Lee Matthews]

Not us. Epcot and AK are 2 days, HS 1 day and MK one day.

Currently where it's just me and my husband, we are exactly the same. Once we become a family I expect Magic Kingdom to go up to a 2 day park

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It's under performing. Yup, I said it.

Listen we can all debate how big this should have been, what the weather has been like etc. . But, come on now. It's been open for like 2 weeks and I am regularly seeing waits at 1 hour and under.

That is under performing. Disney hyped the hell out of this, on fan sites, social media, and on TV. It's just not drawing the crowds they were hoping .... it's the "Solo" of recent park additions.

It's great (I am sure) but the people just aren't showing up despite how hard disney has tried. May e it's the timing. Maybe it's because its between other bigger openings. Maybe people are waiting for the next one so they can have the full experience (seriously all excuses for why solo did so poorly)... but it IS under performing.

I definitely agree it is inperforming vs the hype Disney gave it ... but Disney is a marketing machine that overhypes everything as hey want/need to convince families to vacation there NOW!

I thought no a more interesting question is “how it is performing compared to what should be reasonable expectations” or “compared to what Disney realistically thinks it is - not what their hype marketing it as”

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Would not be surprised if this push of Toy Story into DHS will make it easier to refresh and re-theme the Tomorrowland area and Buzz Lightyear ride in MK.

Which means that TSL was not being built with the goal of, "Travel here for this!" and more, "we have lots to do here once we get you on-property!"

 

[Disney Von Drake]

Slinky Dog, Slinky Train, Slinky Hippo and the other assorted Slinky pull toys were terrible and were never very popular with children. The original Slinky was genius and was very popular with children. Had Disney dispatched the Slinky Dog coaster and instead designed a plain Slinky coaster, it would be wildly popular. Riding around a coaster inside a giant spring would be fun! Riding around in a Slinky dog is stupid and the kids know it!

 

[mj2vacation]

I definitely agree it is inperforming vs the hype Disney gave it ... but Disney is a marketing machine that overhypes everything as hey want/need to convince families to vacation there NOW!

I thought no a more interesting question is “how it is performing compared to what should be reasonable expectations” or “compared to what Disney realistically thinks it is - not what their hype marketing it as”

Marketing has one job. To market any and everything that will get attention.

They have near zero responsibility beyond that.

If the only new thing at Wdw was a purple wall, they would figure out a way to draw people in. Oh wait!

Heads in marketing don’t roll if attendance doesn’t go up.


What they did with Toy Story Land is a shame. It’s ok, but with it based on one of the best trilogies ever, could have been so much more.

Damn... at least Andy’s backyard could have had nice umbrellas, not the Walmart ones that they hastily brought in.

It’s florida. It’s july. Who needs shade, they’re tourists, they’ll never know.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

.

It’s florida. It’s july. Who needs shade, they’re tourists, they’ll never know.

And poor Woody and Jesse. Who thought it was a good idea to put them out in the sun with no awning, no overhang, no cute themed area with shade? Have them meet under Woody's bed. Have them meet in the Toy Barn. In their toy packaging. In the Japanese museum. Something. It's like the Imagineers who designed TSL are based somewhere super temperate like San Diego. Well, it'll always be between 70 and 80 with a dew point of less than 60 in FL, right?

 

[NothingisImpossible]

What a weird statement. A TODDLER ride? It's absolutely not that. It is not a high speed thrill ride, but its a step up from 7DMT in terms of thrill. My kids, at "toddler" age, would have wanted NOTHING to do with a ride like SDD. Toddler ride = Small World, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh...

I could see people seeing pictures and thinking more like Barnstormer than SDMT. I watched a video and the ride looks s lot better.

 

[Doug M]

Did it? I know I did a MyMagic+ trial with virtual fastpasses before SDMT opened (at the time it was in addition to paper fastpasses). Did they ever have paper fastpasses at SDMT? I see both Fastpass+ and SDMT started in 2014.

Yea we were down there in June that year, very shortly after 7DMT opened and we got FP+ for it.

 

[tlmadden73]

What they did with Toy Story Land is a shame. It’s ok, but with it based on one of the best trilogies ever, could have been so much more.
Damn... at least Andy’s backyard could have had nice umbrellas, not the Walmart ones that they hastily brought in.
It’s florida. It’s july. Who needs shade, they’re tourists, they’ll never know.

And poor Woody and Jesse. Who thought it was a good idea to put them out in the sun with no awning, no overhang, no cute themed area with shade? Have them meet under Woody's bed. Have them meet in the Toy Barn. In their toy packaging. In the Japanese museum. Something. It's like the Imagineers who designed TSL are based somewhere super temperate like San Diego. Well, it'll always be between 70 and 80 with a dew point of less than 60 in FL, right?

My guess/hope is that with deadline to get the land open by a specific date, some corners had to be cut. But, over time, like they've done to other attractions, I would hope they can get themed shading and a better M&G area for the characters.

If this was the ONLY new addition to DHS, we'd probably have seen less cut corners, some indoor areas, more shade, etc. But, hopefully, all the money is being spent on SWGE to make it Disney's version of Wizarding World.

 

[Mr. Mickey]

We just got back from a trip and did every park in one day and got on everything,(not counting shows though we did do some) and we all LOVED TSL.

Both of the new rides were great and enjoyable even as an adult. SDD was a blast especially and much faster than it looks. TSM’s new queue was a joy and had plenty to look at. Woodys Lunchbox was fantastic and had very good food, even better than I expected. The level of detail and little things to look for made for an especially fun trip.

My complaints would be that the pathways are too narrow and the queues for the new rides do not have enough fans blowing because when it wasn’t raining; it was hot. Also, a lack of indoor shopping was pretty annoying because the pathways were so narrow and the SDD queue ended up being outside of what it was given resulting in an especially tight area to view what was on the carts.

It rained everyday for our trip both light and an absolute downpour, but it kept the lines short. We ended up waiting 75 for SDD, 15 for TSM, and 30 for Alien. The lines were so short that day that we did all rides and shows at DHS and some rides multiple times. It’s hard for me to say if it was underperforming because of said rain issue, but we got there at opening and left at close and it was always the busiest part of the park from what I can tell.

(If you want an example of how small the crowds were at WDW in the middle of July, we only waited 60 minutes for FOP at 1 o’clock)

 

[BrianL]

Slinky Dog, Slinky Train, Slinky Hippo and the other assorted Slinky pull toys were terrible and were never very popular with children. The original Slinky was genius and was very popular with children. Had Disney dispatched the Slinky Dog coaster and instead designed a plain Slinky coaster, it would be wildly popular. Riding around a coaster inside a giant spring would be fun! Riding around in a Slinky dog is stupid and the kids know it!

But it's not really based on that toy, but rather the beloved character from Toy Story as voiced by Jim Varney. Most kids today have probably never played with an actual Slinky-Dog, but they would know the character very well. I don't think that's the issue at all.

 

[Doug M]

MK will likely always be the top draw (though DHS will fight for supremacy for a while when Star Wars opens)

Disagree. I believe DHS draws roughly half of MK. I can't see DHS doubling attendance. The actual park size is hardly going up, they just tore down old areas to redo. I could see a 30% to 40% rise for that park, but there is no chance it threatens MK. Besides, if SW draws new visitors, fair chance a lot of them also visit MK during their trip.

 

[cwoww]

I can see crowds picking up later in the summer for TSL, and into the fall, as some AP holder dates are blacked out for most of July, and some of August. I can also see it getting busier when it gets darker sooner as the land really seems comes alive at night.