{"id":168480,"date":"2018-07-01T05:15:07","date_gmt":"2018-07-01T09:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=168480"},"modified":"2018-07-01T05:15:07","modified_gmt":"2018-07-01T09:15:07","slug":"to-infinity-toy-story-land-opening-at-disney-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/07\/01\/to-infinity-toy-story-land-opening-at-disney-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"To Infinity: Toy Story Land opening at Disney in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The new 11-acre land inspired by the movie \u201cToy Story\u201d opens to the public Saturday at Disney’s Hollywood Studios just outside Orlando. (Photo<\/a>: Toy Story\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. \u2014 For children of the mid-1990s, Disney’s new Toy Story Land offers the opportunity to visit the imaginary world they grew up in. For their parents, it brings back sweet memories of a magical time of toys and make-believe. And for everyone else, the new theme park land offers a whimsical experience from the moment a nearly 20-foot (6-meter) statue of Sheriff Woody welcomes guests as if they are honorary toys in Andy’s backyard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are welcoming everyone who has ever dreamed of being a part of their own ‘Toy Story,\u201d’ said Bob Chapek, Disney’s chairman of parks, experiences and consumer products, speaking Friday at an opening ceremony.<\/p>\n

The new 11-acre land inspired by the movie \u201cToy Story\u201d opens to the public Saturday at Disney’s Hollywood Studios just outside Orlando.<\/p>\n

Tim Allen, the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the films, made a surprise guest appearance at the Friday event. \u201cSomehow you never imagined you would be able to play in Andy’s backyard,\u201d Allen said. \u201cThis is just amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opening of Toy Story Land is one of the most anticipated events at U.S. theme parks this year. And it continues Disney’s tradition of bringing movies to life. Last year, Pandora-World of Avatar opened at the Florida theme park. Next year, lands themed on \u201cStar Wars\u201d open at Disney parks here and in California.<\/p>\n

But visitors to Toy Story Land will never actually lay eyes on Andy, the human boy who owns the toys in the \u201cToy Story\u201d films. According to the park’s story line, he’s just been called inside by his mother, leaving his toys \u2014 and you \u2014 scattered in the backyard.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs in the ‘Toy Story’ films, when the humans go away, the toys come to life,\u201d said Dave Minichiello, executive creative director of Toy Story Land. \u201cWe’ve tried to include most of the moments and characters in the ‘Toy Story’ films in the new land.\u201d<\/p>\n

But you will find other favourite characters \u2014Sheriff Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, Slinky Dog, Mr. Potato Head and the Green Army Patrol \u2014 in the brightly colored land, along with two new rides: Slinky Dog Dash and Alien Swirling Saucers. They join the pre-existing Toy Story Mania ride, which has been one of the most popular attractions at Hollywood Studios since it debuted in 2008. Toy Story Mania gets a colorful new entrance in the new Toy Story Land.<\/p>\n

Once inside, guests \u201cmagically make a transition,\u201d appearing to become equal in size to a toy because of the scale of the attractions, said Minichiello. In fact, he added, \u201cyou are about the size of the Green Army Men.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movie’s Green Army Men are called the Green Army Patrol here. They have been updated to be more inclusive and diverse \u2014 including female characters. They also interact with guests throughout the park, saluting and even performing fun games like \u201cSarge Says,\u201d inspired by the classic children’s game \u201cSimon Says.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the rides and characters, the Woody’s Lunchbox eatery offers some modern-day twists on classic foods. There is the three-cheese grilled cheese sandwich, a brisket melt, old-fashioned soda floats and other refreshments which can be ordered from a walk-up window fashioned out of Andy’s vintage lunchbox and thermos.<\/p>\n

The park features primary colours and larger-than-life versions of classic toys like Rubik’s Cube, colorful Cootie bugs, Scrabble letters, building blocks and Tinkertoys. There are also benches built from Lincoln Logs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to make this for all generations,\u201d Minichiello said. \u201cAs you walk through you’ll probably discover a lot of toys you played with as a child.\u201d<\/p>\n

There’s a little bit of something for everyone, said Tom Vazzana, show director for Toy Story Land entertainment. \u201cBuzz and Woody and Jessie … are out on the avenue,\u201d interacting with guests, stopping for photo opportunities and signing autographs.<\/p>\n

Toy Story Land is the result of a collaboration between the Disney Imagineers and their storytelling partners at Pixar Animation Studios, said Chapek. \u201cThis new land will place guests inside the wondrous world of Woody, Buzz and their pals,\u201d Chapek said, \u201cand invite everyone to experience the joy of being a toy.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. \u2014 For children of the mid-1990s, Disney’s new Toy Story Land offers the opportunity to visit …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":168481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[568,949,52394],"class_list":["post-168480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-travel","tag-disney","tag-florida","tag-toy-story-land","mauthors-freida-frisaro","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}