Toy story land opening July 2018?!

Using CP as a reference I've had this same discussion with many people. I get that it's easier to work construction in a closed park v. an operating park but CP works through the Ohio winters which definitely hampers the progress. I've never understood why Disney construction takes so long. My favorite winter drives are heading up the chaussey to watch the progress on whatever CP is building that winter. You would think Disney would be able to get their projects moving much quicker than they do.

I get the difference a bit more when comparing to CP - everything there tends to be super minimal as far as loading/unloading areas go, and the theming is pretty generic/non-existent. I'm not knocking CP - I thought Gatekeeper was amazing and have always admired how they do a new coaster over one single winter season. But comparing it to Disney is kind of apples and oranges. That being said, I do think Disney is typically way slower than necessary with this stuff. I mean, I look at how fast Universal had HP done and how amazingly accurate it is. Then I think about how Pandora was announced when my husband and I were honeymooning at Disney, and by the time it opened we had a four year old who wasn't born until like a year and a half after the honeymoon...
 
Using CP as a reference I've had this same discussion with many people. I get that it's easier to work construction in a closed park v. an operating park but CP works through the Ohio winters which definitely hampers the progress. I've never understood why Disney construction takes so long. My favorite winter drives are heading up the chaussey to watch the progress on whatever CP is building that winter. You would think Disney would be able to get their projects moving much quicker than they do.
Universal is a bit quicker than Disney but not by a huge amount. Both Universal and Disney are theme parks and have incredibly well themed attractions and areas. To do that it takes more time than building an exposed steel coaster.
 
Universal is a bit quicker than Disney but not by a huge amount. Both Universal and Disney are theme parks and have incredibly well themed attractions and areas. To do that it takes more time than building an exposed steel coaster.
I get that it takes longer in order to create and complete the theming. Even taking that into consideration Disney is pretty slow. It may not be fair to compare CP to wdw and I get that, too. However, CP is known for its record-breaking rides. Every other year a new ride is added that breaks some kind of record for height, speed etc. That type of engineering and construction takes time, too, and yet construction is completed in a few months during the worst of the winter. I still think Disney can be Disney and still move faster on construction.
 
I get that it takes longer in order to create and complete the theming. Even taking that into consideration Disney is pretty slow. It may not be fair to compare CP to wdw and I get that, too. However, CP is known for its record-breaking rides. Every other year a new ride is added that breaks some kind of record for height, speed etc. That type of engineering and construction takes time, too, and yet construction is completed in a few months during the worst of the winter. I still think Disney can be Disney and still move faster on construction.
I am not saying Disney isn't slow. They built Epcot in a year. Personally I would take an incredibly well themed ride over a record breaking ride. That said I have never been into big really fast steal coasters and I am a 19 year old guy. I should be into that stuff. Those coasters may be built in a winter season but they are designed months if not years ahead of that and all pieces are pre-fabbed off site. That then allows things to go up in a few months. Disney and Universal don't do that. Their rides have stories and many things they build are built on site because of this.
 


I am not saying Disney isn't slow. They built Epcot in a year. Personally I would take an incredibly well themed ride over a record breaking ride. That said I have never been into big really fast steal coasters and I am a 19 year old guy. I should be into that stuff. Those coasters may be built in a winter season but they are designed months if not years ahead of that and all pieces are pre-fabbed off site. That then allows things to go up in a few months. Disney and Universal don't do that. Their rides have stories and many things they build are built on site because of this.
I get it. I do. Maybe I'm just impatient. In fact I know it's not maybe. I am impatient. When toy story land and star wars was announced at d23 a few years back I was so excited. I still am, but I'm like a kid on Christmas morning waiting for the parents to wake up.
The big coasters are not for everyone. It is one reason we have started to frequent wdw. We love the theming and the fact that all ages can ride so much together. I grew up looking for high thrills. With each year the 420 foot roller coaster at CP becomes less my thing.
 
Looking forward to hopefully experiencing toy story land next summer when we go. We have been to CP many times his summer and I am fascinated watching the conversion of the wooden Mean streak to having a steel track. It looks so cool. We drive around to the back of the park just to look at the back side of it. While I love Disney best, CP has always been a short drive away and Millennium my all time favorite ride.
 


Looking forward to hopefully experiencing toy story land next summer when we go. We have been to CP many times his summer and I am fascinated watching the conversion of the wooden Mean streak to having a steel track. It looks so cool. We drive around to the back of the park just to look at the back side of it. While I love Disney best, CP has always been a short drive away and Millennium my all time favorite ride.

I'm so glad that transition is happening - Mean Streak was an awful, painful ride for me! Disney will always be my favorite, but the ones with short drives are always nice.
 
I'm so glad that transition is happening - Mean Streak was an awful, painful ride for me! Disney will always be my favorite, but the ones with short drives are always nice.

I could never ride the painfully rough and appropriately named mean streak but hope the improved version is kinder. I will have my daughter test ride it when it opens to see if my back can handle it. (Two back surgeries but still love coasters lol)
 
I am not saying Disney isn't slow. They built Epcot in a year. Personally I would take an incredibly well themed ride over a record breaking ride. That said I have never been into big really fast steal coasters and I am a 19 year old guy. I should be into that stuff. Those coasters may be built in a winter season but they are designed months if not years ahead of that and all pieces are pre-fabbed off site. That then allows things to go up in a few months. Disney and Universal don't do that. Their rides have stories and many things they build are built on site because of this.

You know, I think this encapsulates part of what people don't get when they say how slow Disney is. Not that I'm an expert, but I can compare pretty well to some experience from my own career. When I first started my current job 10 years ago, I was in charge of developing small software projects, which then became part of my stable of projects that I was responsible for maintaining. I was super-productive then, I churned out lots of stuff.

Ten years later my production in terms of new stuff is not even a tenth of what it was then, because in addition to new development I am now maintaining, making upgrades, and taking tickets on a quite extensive suite of older projects that are still in use. On top of that I go to about five times as many meetings as I did back then, many of them around considerations of how those old projects should be prioritized for upgrade / could be adapted versus new build / will be affected by some larger department project. In short, I am slowed incredibly by the caretaking of my previous output.

I often see people compare Universal's pace now to Disney's pace in the '90s under Eisner, arguing that if Disney could do it then, why can't Eisner do it now. But I think that they have the argument the wrong way around; I'm curious to see whether Universal will be able to maintain it's place if it expands to new gates rather than repurposing space in its existing parks. I think it is their size that enables them to be more agile, not any special commitment to speed that Disney doesn't have.
 
There was some possibly that TSL wouldn't open until 2019 for two reasons:

  • SW Land at DHS was falling behind in construction and might not open until late 2019/early 2020
  • Toy Story 4 is scheduled to come out summer 2019
I can't imagine them wanting to keep DHS in the state that it is in now for an additional two years. So I'm glad they're sticking with the 2018 release date.
 
I'm hoping it opens next year for Memorial weekend, like Pandora did this year and FEA did the year before.
 
There was some possibly that TSL wouldn't open until 2019 for two reasons:

  • SW Land at DHS was falling behind in construction and might not open until late 2019/early 2020
  • Toy Story 4 is scheduled to come out summer 2019
I can't imagine them wanting to keep DHS in the state that it is in now for an additional two years. So I'm glad they're sticking with the 2018 release date.
Toy Story will open in 2018.

SW Land hasn't fallen behind and wouldn't have any bearing on Toy Story.
 
Disney is building Toy Story land at a pretty quick pace. Like I said earlier this exact ride is in Carsland. Carsland was no small project. Disney is not Cedar Point. Disney also takes longer than other theme/amusement parks because they theme their rides. Sure Slinky Dog won't be incredibly themed but Saucers is. I follow Disney construction on a daily basis.

If you think Cars Land took so long to build and cost so much because of the installation of the Mater's Junkyard Jamboree ride system, I hate to burst your bubble. Cars Land is incredibly well done and very immersive. Walking through there, especially at night, makes you feel like you are really in the movie. And Radiator Springs Racers is my favorite Disney ride at any domestic park. It is mind blowing how well it is done.

However, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree (which as you know the Alien Saucer ride is a clone of) is a very simple flat ride with a very simple queue. Fun ride, but simple. They did not spend much effort on it and it looks like the same thing will be true of the Alien ride. The actual ride installation (which is what I was originally referring to) would not take very long. Yes, Disney will add a few flourishes to it which takes some additional time, but I fail to see the "incredibly themed" part of the saucer ride you mention. From the official render it looks like any other flat ride with a cover except it has a robotic arm bolted to the ceiling which will pretend to grab at guests.

As for Toy Story Land as a whole, from the latest official renderings the money and effort they've put into it looks more along the lines of "Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama" than it does "Cars Land". It has an exposed steel coaster (just like they'd build at Cedar Point except way smaller and way tamer!) with a few giant props stuck in the ground around it. It looks like they've cut out a lot of additional details as well in order to get it open sooner or save money (or likely both). The whole aesthetic of Toy Story Land reminds me of All Star Movies Resort.

All that said, the point of my original post in reply to OP is to not expect a 5 or 6 year construction time line for this land because it is not as immersive, detailed, or costly as Pandora or Star Wars. I think we can agree on that.
 
If you think Cars Land took so long to build and cost so much because of the installation of the Mater's Junkyard Jamboree ride system, I hate to burst your bubble. Cars Land is incredibly well done and very immersive. Walking through there, especially at night, makes you feel like you are really in the movie. And Radiator Springs Racers is my favorite Disney ride at any domestic park. It is mind blowing how well it is done.

However, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree (which as you know the Alien Saucer ride is a clone of) is a very simple flat ride with a very simple queue. Fun ride, but simple. They did not spend much effort on it and it looks like the same thing will be true of the Alien ride. The actual ride installation (which is what I was originally referring to) would not take very long. Yes, Disney will add a few flourishes to it which takes some additional time, but I fail to see the "incredibly themed" part of the saucer ride you mention. From the official render it looks like any other flat ride with a cover except it has a robotic arm bolted to the ceiling which will pretend to grab at guests.

As for Toy Story Land as a whole, from the latest official renderings the money and effort they've put into it looks more along the lines of "Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama" than it does "Cars Land". It has an exposed steel coaster (just like they'd build at Cedar Point except way smaller and way tamer!) with a few giant props stuck in the ground around it. It looks like they've cut out a lot of additional details as well in order to get it open sooner or save money (or likely both). The whole aesthetic of Toy Story Land reminds me of All Star Movies Resort.

All that said, the point of my original post in reply to OP is to not expect a 5 or 6 year construction time line for this land because it is not as immersive, detailed, or costly as Pandora or Star Wars. I think we can agree on that.
Where did I say it was because of Maters? This ride is way more themed than anything at six flags or cedar point though.
 
I know it's early, but I really hope we hear about potential characters to meet & greet in the land.

I'd love it if they introduced a Mr Potato Head meet and greet!
 
I know it's early, but I really hope we hear about potential characters to meet & greet in the land.

I'd love it if they introduced a Mr Potato Head meet and greet!
You will see the Mr. Potato Head AA return to the TSMM queue but no meet and greet.
 

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