Opening Day at Toy Story Land

Toy Story Land is officially open! Cam, Cate and I were there OPENING DAY and it was everything these Toy Story fans wanted and more.

I am going use this post to give you the complete run down of our Toy Story Land opening weekend shenanigans along with LOTS of photos. Be prepared for a post that feels like it goes on for Infinity and Beyond. I promise it will be worth it!

First up let's go through Opening Day!

We arrived at Hollywood Studios just before 6am on Saturday, June 30th. I was nervous the entire ride up because this was the first time we've ever gone to an opening day event. I really didn't know what to expect.

Walking up to bag check, we didn't have to wait at all. All bag check lanes were open. Cam, Cate and I each took a different line and pretty soon we were in! At this time, people had already filled in basically between the Magic Band/ticket scanners to the ticket booths. They were directing people into general "lines" to spread the crowds out and we ended up all the way to the right, behind the ticket booth.

The park was scheduled to open at 8am. It's about 6am at this point, and a few people are in line behind us when they make an announcement over the park, we were going to be let into the park shortly, and select rides were going to be open at 6:30am. Every one around us was speculating they couldn't possibly mean Toy Story Land was opening early, we just figured we would be lining up at the entrance to the land instead of the park. We were wrong! Once we were scanned in, we could hear the announcement better - they were making it pretty clear that the TOYS WERE READY FOR US!

This will forever go down as one of the best Disney memories of my life.

Disney surprised us all by opening the park early, and everyone walking to Toy Story Land was just so happy to be there. We all went into this with no expectations, we weren't sure if we were going to get to ride or do anything, we were just so excited to get to be there! Now, we were walking into Toy Story Land, nearly two hours before the park was scheduled to open!

We headed straight for Slinky Dog Dash, and we were in line by 6:15am. It was so fun getting to experience the queue, and see all of the details. Typically we don't ride long wait time attractions without a Fastpass, and because of that we miss a lot of the details in the queue.
The line moved pretty well once the ride was up and running and even though they told us approx 2 hours, we were off by 7:15am.

At this point we were kind of in shock because it was still 45 min before we thought we were going to even make it into the park! We decided to head to Woody's Lunch Box to grab something to drink and some breakfast!

I of course had to have the cute Alien Sipper, so I ordered that with the Mystic Portal Punch, a Powerade based drink. We loved the drink, and it was super refreshing!

We were so excited to see Woody's Lunch Box had some amazing Gluten Free options. Cam ordered the breakfast bowl, and I got the s'mores french toast. Each of these items only had to be modified slightly to be made Gluten Free.

Woody's Lunch Box was the longest line we waited in on Saturday. Cate, who didn't have a Gluten Free meal (those typically take longer) waited 35 min AFTER paying for her order to get her food. The only orders coming out of the kitchen were Mobile Orders. I did ask a CM about this and he said the orders come out in the order the tickets print including the Mobile Orders. The issue comes when a huge amount of people all place their Mobile Orders at once there might be 25-30 that get their orders in between guests in line ordering. It did look like by Sunday they had turned off Mobile Ordering which helped the line move along way better!

• 

• 

These Pixar Alex and Ani - we have on the To Infinity and Beyond & You've Got a Friend in Me - aren't currently available in Toy Story Land (we got them at Disney Springs) but the area made for adorable bestie pics with our new bling.

Alex and Ani bangles available at Ever After Jewelry Co, Disney Springs

The last thing we did on Saturday was wait in line for an Alien Popcorn bucket! We saw them coming in, but we had a one track mind to ride Slinky Dog Dash so we just crossed our fingers they would still be in stock by the time we got done in Toy Story Land.

A Cast Member told Cam they had 2,500 in the park that day. Cate and I got in line around 10am, and after waiting about an hour we finally got them! They ran out shortly after that.

Sunday, Cate and I headed back to Toy Story Land to try and ride Alien Swirling Saucers and explore some more!

We knew where arriving at 6am put us in line, so we decided to leave the Boardwalk and head over at 5:15am! We got to Hollywood Studios about 5:30am and there was WAY less people there than opening day. First they scanned our bands to make sure we were resort guests (because of extra magic hour) then they escorted us all the way to the right and we were first in line at the second to last scanner there.

Everyone was talking about when they were going to let us in, after waiting and guessing they had us start scanning in at 6:30am. This was a totally different experience than opening day. People began to rush down the street there, and we were all stopped in a huge mass crowd. From there they moved us little by little down the street, people pushing and shoving to get to the front each time. Cate and I started out directly behind the row in the very front of the crowd and by the time we were almost to Toy Story Land there was at least 100 people ahead of us. People were pushing their kids, it was awful. Things got worse when Toy Story Land (and the line for Slinky) was in sight. Every one took off running, and we got really nervous something bad was about to happen. It was really dangerous! We made it to the Slinky Dog line (barely) and we were on the third or forth coaster that went out.

That really cheered us up! From there, we headed to Alien Swirling Saucers and then to Toy Story Midway Mania. We got the entire land done in a little over an hour. Was it worth nearly getting trampled? You decide!

Our final mission was to locate the Popsicle Stick wall! It's located in the exit of Toy Story Midway Mania. If you aren't riding Midway Mania, head down the path to the left of the Luxo ball and it will be on your right. These photos were taken about 8:30am and the lighting was PERFECT!

Here are my overall thoughts:

• The land is small but mighty! Three rides, a quick service, a restroom and a few merchandise kiosks are all fit in an area smaller than Pandora at Animal Kingdom. HOWEVER the pathways are nice an wide. Besides right after rope drop, I didn't ever feel cramped.
• There are loads of photo spots to capture the fun! There are so many levels to this place, look up or look down there is something cute that will add some fun to any photos you want to take.
• The quick service has loads of different food options from "potato barrels" to s'mores french toast! Even with allergies to worry about, you are going to want to plan at least one meal here.
• It's perfect for kids and big kids. If you grew up with the Toy Story movies being a big part of your life like we did, you won't wan to leave. It's literally filled with happiness and nostalgia.

Here are my tips if you don't have Fastpasses:

• Staying at a resort but weren't able to make a Fastpass? I think taking advantage of the extra magic hour is your best bet. I would suggest getting there at 5:30, and planning on waiting it out. This can be a little scary and I honestly wouldn't recommend it for young kids with the crowds and the level of aggressive pushing we experienced. HOWEVER if you go early, prepared, and make sure you don't get stuck in the middle of the crowd, it can get you on all the rides in a short amount of time.
• Not staying at a resort/local but want to see the Land? I think evening is your best bet here, over the last couple of days posted wait times have been longer than actual observed wait times but you never know. If you want to experience the land, and you are going to wait for the rides, if you get there 5:30/6 that gives you time to see it in the daylight and wait in lines while the sun isn't beating down on you.