Toy Story Mania!

Grab a pair of 3D glasses, climb aboard a carnival-themed tram vehicle and zip through a gallery of midway-style games inspired by the Disney-Pixar Toy Story films in this interactive attraction designed for the entire family. Toy Story characters host different games-matched to the character's animated personalities, that challenge both beginners and experienced gamers, as players of all skill levels have fun on Toy Story Mania! in the Pixar Place area at Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

Follow the trajectory of the virtual objects as they travel towards their targets through a dazzling 3D landscape. For an added "4D" element, you can feel them as they whoosh by. Watch out for the water-filled balloons, they pop and splash. Points pile up when you hit your mark. Keep your eyes open for hidden targets with bonus points that promote you to a different level of play. Your score is recorded and compared to other players' tallies. Play Toy Story Mania! again and try for the day's high score. It's a ride that's a game, or is it a game that's a ride?

Entering the Toy Story Midway Mania building is like walking into a retro child's toy box. The queue is adorned with super-sized board games and playthings: Crayola crayons, Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, Tinkertoys, Viewmaster reels, A Barrelful of Monkeys, Checkers, Little Golden Books and much more. A large audio-animatronic Mr. Potato Head stands at the end of the main queue room. This very sophisticated audio-animatronic is able to interact with guests, follow them with his eyes, tell corny jokes, sing, and pick out people in the crowd for special attention. He can even reach up and remove one of his ears!

The attraction features five mini-games after a practice round, each of which includes at least one "Easter egg" that can trigger additional targets or gameplay changes. These games include:

• Game 1, Pie Throw Practice Booth - This a practice game where guests use their shooters to throw pies at the targets that Buzz and Jessie are holding. No points are awarded in this game.
• Game 2, Hamm & Eggs - Hosted by Hamm and Buttercup (a toy unicorn from Toy Story 3 with heart-shaped nostrils). Players use the shooters to toss eggs at barnyard targets such as cows and ducks and knock them down.
• Game 3, Rex and Trixie's Dino Darts - Rex and Trixie's Dino Darts invites riders to shoot their virtual darts at all-new balloon targets in a primeval world filled with volcanoes and lava balloons. (The new game replaces the original Bo Peep's Baaa-loon Pop.)
• Game 4, Green Army Men Shoot Camp - A ball-throwing game, and the object is to break as many of the moving, bouncing plates as possible. As Sarge yells, "I am not your mother - break those plates!"
• Game 5, Buzz Lightyear's Flying Tossers - Hosted by Buzz and the Little Green Men. Players attempt to toss rings over aliens and rocket ships.
• Game 6, Woody's Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' Gallery - The final game is Woody's Rootin' Shootin' Gallery, where Woody and Jessie encourage players to throw suction cup darts at targets. Then there's an extra Woody's Bonus Roundup game. First players shoot at targets mounted on rolling mine cars, and then a stationary target pops up in front and players must fire their shooters as rapidly as possible.

Each game is 30 seconds long. The characters count down the last five seconds. There are additional "4-D" effects to some of the games, like a puff of air as an object whirls past, or a spray of water after popping a water balloon.

Each guest's score is recorded by an onboard display screen as points are acquired with individual toy cannons firing simulated projectiles at virtual targets. Toy Story characters including Woody, Hamm, Buzz Lightyear, Rex and Trixie appear during the attraction's different games.

Touring Tips

• Toy Story Midway Mania is a very popular attraction and wait times are frequently in excess of one hour. Use Disney's FASTPASS, a return voucher offering little or no waiting time at select attractions. Note that this attraction is so popular that FASTPASSes are frequently gone by noon, if you want to ride, arrive early!
• Because each car holds 4 passengers, Cast Members frequently will call for single riders or a party of two to fill a car. Be sure to keep your ears open!
• Small children are also able to ride on an adult's lap if they are facing forward with their legs securely underneath the safety bar.
• The ride is about 5 and a half minutes long. Sometimes there are delays at the end of games or between games, so it can take longer than that.
• In each of the games there is at least one "Easter Egg", targets that can trigger the appearance of bonus high-value targets or other changes. For example, in the Ring Toss game, if players can toss rings over all of the aliens in the rocket ship, then a big robot will appear and open its mouth, which has a large target in it. Depending on how much time is left in the game, it will open multiple times, with higher point values each time.
• Watch for loose change in the prize scene, Hamm is carrying more than $6 in coins when his cork pops.
• Toy Story Midway Mania is very popular with children and adults. There are a number of high value targets that are at kid's-eye level, and easier for them to see.
• Immediately across from the entrance to Toy Story Mania is a character greeting area that features Buzz, Woody and other Toy Story characters throughout the day. Check your Guide Map for times and locations.
• The cars do spin, but it's not a crazy spinning like the Mad Tea Cups at Magic Kingdom. It's more of just a quick turn to get to see the next screen.

Facts

• Designed by Walt Disney Imagineering and inspired by Disney-Pixar's Toy Story franchise, the attraction was first unveiled during a press conference at Walt Disney World in January 2007 and opened officially on May 31, 2008.
• A much larger-than-life Mr. Potato Head is the "Boardwalk Barker" who welcomes you to the Toy Story Mania! attraction. With more lines of dialogue than any other Audio-Animatronics figure ever created for a Disney Park, Mr. Potato Head yuks it up with you and keeps the jokes cracking until your carnival tram whisks you away to where the midway action is.
• Toy Story Midway Mania! is one of the most technologically sophisticated attractions yet developed by Walt Disney Imagineering, costing an estimated $80 million to design and build. Many of the parts for the attraction's control system came from two of Disney's corporate sponsors, Siemens AG and Hewlett-Packard.
• The control system is divided into three components: one for the ride vehicles, one for the games and one more for the attraction's special effects. Programmable logic controllers in the vehicles alert the control system wirelessly via ProfiNET RT to the vehicle's speed and location. The central controller then sends its instructions back to the vehicles using a hard-wired network within the track. The one-way communications flow adds a factor of safety, even though the wireless network is protected against outside interference, such as a denial-of-service attack.
• The attraction features more than 150 PCs, which includes one HP Windows XP PC for each of Midway Mania's 56 game screens, as well as others that control the special effects at each game. At the game screens, two tracking systems provide the game control system with the vehicle's exact location, making sure that gameplay is not affected by even minor differences in vehicle position. According to Jody Gerstner, executive director of show and ride controls, "The game doesn't care if the car parks in the same spot every time. It just needs to know where each car has actually parked, and it can compensate."
• As the games are software-based, changes can be made to the attraction's lineup of games without significant effort. In April 2010, Disney Parks announced plans to replace "Bo Peep's Baaa-loon Pop" with "Rex and Trixie's Dino Darts." The change took place on May 21, 2010. The new game includes one of the new characters from the Toy Story 3 feature film, which was released in June 2010.
• Music for the queue area was arranged and recorded by Jennifer Hammond at Capitol Studios with a live orchestra. More than an hour of music was recorded, all based on the first two Toy Story scores composed by Randy Newman.
• Similar technology has been used in Disney attractions such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold at DisneyQuest and several Buzz Lightyear attractions. According to Disney, it is the first attraction created simultaneously by Walt Disney Imagineering for two theme parks.
• In May 2010, several changes were made to the games, to include characters from Toy Story 3. Rex was replaced in the Hamm and Eggs game by Buttercup, a unicorn, While Bo-Peep's Baaa-loon Pop, was replaced by Rex and Trixie's Dino Darts.

Stategy Guide

It is very important to understand that in this game, your accuracy doesn't matter at all. Disregard the accuracy portion of the score screen, and shoot as fast as possible. The goal is to accumulate as many points, and as fast as possible.

Game 1, Pie Throw Practice Booth

There are absolutely no points to be had here, so take this time to get used to your gun. Depending on how far you've pulled your lap bar down, it may be easier to shoot different parts of the screen, and pull your string faster.

Game 2, Hamm And Eggs

There are two places you can be sitting for this game, the seat closer to the split in the two screens (we'll call this person the barn shooter) or the seat closer to the edge of the screen (we'll call this person the hen house shooter). The ideal situation is to be the person who will be taking the hen house, in the bottom corner of the screen. The ideal score for this person will be about 45,000. The strategy here is simple. In the bottom corner a fox will pop out worth 500 points. Shoot it, and two hens will run out, worth 1,000 and 2,000 points respectively.

Expert solo strategy: In between shooting the hens, there are two pigs above the hen house, each worth 100 points. Shooting both of these will make a cat appear, and each time it appears, its point value will increase. If you can get in a good rhythm you can can easily score over 50,000 points on this game.

If it happens you're the person not closest to the hen house, you can still get about 28,000 points, but you're going to have to work for it. At the top of your half of the screen, you will see a barn. You will need to shoot all the targets in it, and it will flip. Now, three mice targets, worth 2,000 points each will be in the barn. They are very small, and will hide from you. Shoot all three, and the entire screen will fill with 1,000 point targets for you and your teammate to hit. Doing this all in a fast matter is extremely difficult, and compared to hitting the hen house, very unfair.

Game 3, Bo Peep's Baaa-loon Pop

The ideal score for this game is around 50,000, but you can push it to 60,000 with some practice. This will be the first time you need to coordinate with your teammate. Each person has 5 balloons on the top corners of their screen, which, when shot, produce water. When all five of these are cleared, the screen rains with 500 point balloons, but this is not exactly what you want to happen in this game.

Each teammate should shoot exactly FOUR of these balloons. Then, when both people are done doing that, try and coordinate shooting your respective last water balloons at the same time! If done correctly, the screen will now rain with 2,000 point balloons. Shoot them as fast as you can.

Expert solo strategy: Quickly shoot 4 balloons in the corner of the screen closest to you, then shoot the 5 furthest away from you. After this is done you have exactly 3 seconds to go back and shoot the last balloon on your side of the screen, to trigger the bonus points. Try to do this as fast as possible so you can spend lots of time clearing the rest of the board.

After that's done, spend a lot of time shooting the targets worth 500 and 1000. If you see a higher point balloon, don't waste too much time chasing it if you don't feel confident enough to hit it with one or two darts. You're score will improve if you stay focused on rapidly shooting the larger 500 targets.

Game 4, Green Army Men Shoot Camp

Your ideal score for this game will be about 75,000 Coordinate with your teammate, because about 5 seconds into the game, each side of the screen will have a 2,000 point plate pop up into the air. If both sides hit theirs at the same time a tank will appear and shoot out 6 plates, each worth 5,000 points. In between the tank shooting, aim only for 1,000 and 2,000 point plates.

Expert solo strategy: This is a bit trickier to unlock on your own than the previous one. I have found it is easier to shoot the plate closest to you as it is rising, then quickly shoot the one further away from you as it is falling. You must get both on the first try to be able to get all 6 of the 5,000 plates from the tank.

Game 5, Buzz Lightyear's Flying Tossers

The secret in this game is deceptively easy, but if you mess up, it will be frustrating. There will be a rocket ship filled with 8 aliens worth 100 points each. They will re-spawn shortly after you hit them. Work with your teammate and ring them all before the re-spawn. The rocket ship will blast off, and the easter egg unlocked.

The easter egg is a robot's mouth that will open and close. When it's open, a point value will be shown, starting with 500, and eventually reaching 2.000. Throw as many rings into the box as possible when it is open.

Expert solo strategy: Unlocking this secret will make or break your score. It all comes down to skill. I like to start with the top aliens. To unlock this secret by yourself, you have to be sure that every ring you throw will hit an alien, and move on to the next one while your previous ring is still in the air. Once you unlock the robot, do not shoot rings into its mouth when it first opens. You are better of ringing the planets and the jet-pack. Know when the robot will open next, and have rings already in the air just before it opens. Do not miss the 5,000 point aliens that will appear on the side.

Game 6, Woody's Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' Gallery

Time to work with your partner again! To start out, the screen should have 7 targets. When each target is shot, 3 to 5 new targets will pop out. The objective here is to shoot each target once! It is important to note that the targets will re-spawn. So, do not waste times shooting the same ones twice! If you and your teammate have quickly cleared the screen of each bullseye, then each target will disappear, and the screen will explode full of new bullseyes worth only 2,000 and 1,000 points. The best strategy here is to rapidly fire at everything you can.

Expert solo strategy: The key to playing this one solo is not unlocking it, but how fast you can unlock it and have time to clear the board, once it is unlocked. Only practice will make you faster.

Your car will begin moving along with the screen. This part is very short. Keep and eye out for the bigger targets. You should be able to hit at least three targets worth 2,000 here. To get the targets worth 2,000 points, shoot the targets worth 500 points that are grouped in pairs. Each time you do this, a 2,000 target will pop up. You can do this as much as you have time for.

There will be two mine carts traveling toward you. Alternate hitting them from left to right. After the first three, a bat will appear above worth 1,000. Quickly hit him, and go back to hitting mine carts. Another bat worth 5,000 will then appear. Tag that one too, and finish with the mine carts. If you've done this correctly, your two final mine carts will be worth 5,000 each. Expert solo strategy:If you are really good, you can try and spray all four rows of mine carts. If you are not confident in doing that, you can at least hit the bats on both side.

Your final objective is to shoot as quickly as possible at the target as it grows in points. It will max out at 2,000. Expert solo strategy: I basically look away from the screen and focus only on firing as fast as possible. Getting in one or two final shots here can be the difference between top score of the day and top score of the month.