Laura's Disney Lines

So last Sunday, after we toured the Disney Magic, Lee and I stopped by the Disneyland Resort on our way back to San Diego. Hey, it wasn't THAT far out of the way! :-)

And we *finally* got to try out Toy Story Mania! We hadn't been to the parks since Memorial Day, so this was the first chance we'd had (it opened June 17).

It was great fun!!! I could've done it over and over again...but the line was 45 minutes long (which is short when compared to the 90-120 minute waits for Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage last summer), but that's still about 25 minutes too long for me to be willing to do more than once. Unlike the attraction at WDW, there's no Fastpass at the one in California.

I'd like to say that I have new appreciation for the great photos that Chelsi Murphy took during the Annual Passholder Previews, which she shared with us in this blog entry and in this Wandering the Land feature. There's several that she managed to take during the ride, and that's *really* hard - the cars spin you around pretty fast as they move through the attraction, and then you get caught up in playing the games themselves! So thanks again, Chelsi!

As I mentioned, we had about a 45 minute wait to get on. For the first 10 minutes or so we were entertained by Mr. Potato Head, who talked to people in the queue and told bad jokes...but he never removed his ear. Still, that's one very impressive audio-animatronic - his lips move and his eyes are very expressive.

It was a warm sunny afternoon, but not as hot as it often is in the summer. Most of the queue is outside, but most of it was shaded either by the building or by a whole bunch of beach umbrellas, so those gave us a break from the sun.

I'm rather disappointed in the queue itself. Other than Mr. Potato Head it's pretty boring - there are a bunch of posters that describe how to play and "advertise" the games, but that's it - other than that it just snakes back and forth. (Quite different from the queue in Florida - you can see pictures of it in Mike Scopa's blog HERE.) The queue is very deceptive, too - after you pass by Mr. Potato Head and make a turn, you can see people on the other side of the wall getting ready to get on the ride, but noooo...you go around the next turn, and instead of joining them, suddenly there's a whole lot more queue!

The loading process seemed pretty fast and efficient and they got us out of there quickly. Lee hadn't seen pictures of the ride vehicles, so he was surprised that you sit back-to-back with other people.

Once the ride started...wow. We got whirled away without much chance to look at what's going on around us...and then we're at the first game trying to figure out how to fire and aim. Though actually it was quite easy, and it's SO nice to be able to see what I'm shooting - so unlike Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters! It seemed to me that a lot of the high-scoring targets were actually closer to the bottom of the screen, so I started focusing a bit more there. After our "practice" pie-throwing round we were whirled away to the next game, and so on. So we threw eggs and popped balloons with darts, broke plates with baseballs, tried to throw rings over little green guys (I thought that was the hardest) and then ended up at the shooting gallery where we got a "bonus" round. It was really a lot of fun, but it went way too fast!

Of course the most important thing was that my score was higher than Lee's. :-)

And here's my prize...If this photo appears fuzzy to you, put on your 3-D glasses. :-)

A few other notes...Lee wears glasses, which can sometimes be an issue with the 3-D glasses, but he had no problems seeing at all.

In the queue I noticed a couple of signs cautioning about motion sickness, which at the time I thought seemed a bit of an overreaction, but after riding it I can understand why they posted it. The ride really does move fast and spin you around a lot - and that could bother those who are sensitive to motion.

You exit the ride on the opposite side of where you got on...and to get back outside again you have to climb a flight of stairs that takes you back over the track, then go down a flight of stairs on the other side. Which, surprise, surprise, puts you into a gift shop. I assume there's a different arrangement for those who can't climb stairs, but I don't know what it is.

While we were in line I noticed a couple of new food stands that have been set up along the boardwalk in front of Toy Story Mania - a hot dog place and a snack place which sells drinks, turkey legs, and chimichangas.

I wanna ride again!!! So I'm looking forward to some morning when I can get there at park opening and ride several times with little/no wait.

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