Toy Story Mania Concept Art

[t***@aol.com]

Have you seen the new Toy Story Mania art work?

What the hell, it looks truly horrible. I mean both the execution of
the art and what it depicts are just flat bad. It almost looks like a
joke, some horrible photoshopped staged thing that lacks charm,
excitement and any feeling of a spectacular ride whatsoever. Rather
it seems cramped, dull and something you might find at a place in the
Mall of America or somewhere.

I cannot even say it looks like Universal on it's suckiness... more
like an ambitious Chuck E Cheese undertaking.

I don't know man... the more I see of this the less I like it.

[z***@hotmail.com]

Okay Ted, take some deep breaths man, and try to relax.

I assume you're talking about the new "balloon game" art which shows
two people in a ride vehicle as Woody and Hamm look on in the
background.

The reaction I had when I looked at the was pretty much a
disinterested shrug. It didn't offend me like it has obviously done
to you, but it did give me much to be excited about either.

You're damn right about the ride looking cramped, and from this art it
looks like the ride could be laid out kinda like your local
supermarket with your vehicle traveling up one aisle and down the
other.

I thought the most intriguing about the art was Woody and Hamm. How
much interaction are the Toy Story characters going to have? Is it
going to look as if they're running around in there, and talking
directly to you?

Actually the most interesting thing about this whole attraction for me
is the Mr. Potato Head AA they've built for the queue. It sounds very
advanced, and I'm looking forward to seeing it in action.

I'm still very much in a wait-and-see mode on the Toy Story Mania
project. There's still a lot we don't know. I will admit the whole
concept isn't the most inspired, and I prefer the idea of the Monsters
Inc. Hide & Seek ride a lot better. Alas it seems Japan is alway
getting the coolest stuff.

So for now I'll give the WDI guys the benefit of the doubt, and not
get myself too worked up about it until we can get some reviews from
people who have ridden the attraction.

[9Lanterns]

The problem is, I really WANT to like the ride, because MGM has so few
rides to begin with and I love the Toy Story movies and characters.

I agree that this concept art is nothing to write home about. In
fact, it does look pretty lame. It's unsettling that every piece of
concept art we've seen keeps showing row upon row of movie screens
that we face. I'm picturing some horrible back-and-forth switchback
warehouse with nothing more than bright carny tents over each screen.
I can only hope that there actually is a decently themed ride in
there, and that the art just keeps showing us the same type of thing
because the selling point is the 3-D shooting.

I never caught on before that the ride vehicles are actually seating 4
people back to back. That's an interesting idea, though apparently
both sides get the same games. Also, is this thing using the Winnie
the Pooh Honey Hunt technology? The art doesn't show a track. But
that's probably because they don't want to draw in boring things like
tracks. I'm also assuming that Woody and Hamm don't really hover on
the corners of the game, I think that's an artist trying to hammer
home a point that this is a Toy Story ride, since the game itself
doesn't show it (the only other giveaway would be Bullseye on the
vehicle).

I think the reality is that the ride will be allright. Not great, and
certainly not worthy of all the hype it will get. I would put in the
Snow White category. A fun little ride that doesn't deserve a long
wait and is not considered a major attraction. Of course, life isn't
fair, so this thing will be massively popular and have enormous lines,
thus reinforcing to Disney that they know best, not the fans. This
will give them license to keep adding more Disney characters into
Disneyland's Small World (those freakin idiots).

-Shane

[t***@aol.com]

I am sure you are correct Shane in that the ride will not flat out
suck... but for this type of investment and hype to come up with
something on the level of 53 year old Snow White is a bit lame. Worse
yet I don't think it will have the charm of Snow White... I think it
is exactly what you described, traveling through a warehouse past a
never ending line of movie screens while the car swings around from
time to time to let you see the other side of screens. I am sure
there will be some fun audio as the TS characters cheer you on...
probably some good graphics on some of the games, but in the end it is
still traveling past a row of freaking movie screens.

The greatest disappointment, and something in direct contrast to the
Monsters Inc. ride they are building in Tokyo, is that they don't seem
to have any dimensional sets. The idea of screens hidden amongst full
sets is cool, the idea of rectangular movie screens 4 feet from your
car simulating carnival games in pretty damn lame.

[t***@aol.com]

Oh yea,one last thought...

I had not thought about the idea of using the Hunny Hunt technology
for the ride system, and I guess it is possible they have done that,
however I doubt that is the case.
My guess is that the bad concept art simply omitted it. Still, lets
hope that is the case, if for no other reason than to introduce it
here in the U.S. It is really an INCREDIBLE system, like nothing you
have experienced before. For it to really work though you need big,
wide opened spaces (seemingly the exact opposite of what this ride has
to offer). When you start careening around a space and ride vehicles
criss cross in front of each other with absolutely NOTHING visible
guiding them (no wire, no track, not rails... just NOTHING) it i just
really very cool.

Lets be optimistic... maybe, just MAYBE Disney has decided to not
mention one word of this, show us only concept art which does NOT show
it is use in any way and really have saved it as some sort of
surprise. I can see this ride getting MUCH better is after a series
of tightly quarters shooting at movie screens the cars suddenly burst
into a giant open space in which targets are hidden all around (along
with real, physical sets) while the vehicles bounce around and spin
wildly throughout the room.... if they do THAT I will be on board
100%.

[P***@aol.com]

Hmmm..........
optimism runs rampant.

You know they have not done anything that clever when they can do it
for less, although it would be fabulous. Really, tiliting slightly off
that subject, I am so tired of seeing tv screens everywhere. Not only
are they popping up everywhere at Disney (Spaceship Earth, Toy Story
Mania), at my airport they are everywhere you turn. Stand for your
luggage, stare at a flat screen. Truly I think it's going to noodle
people's brains., And really in the long run it's the cheesy way out.