Toy Story Playland (General discussion)

[Disneydavid]

Chips! I dont hope that the Playland is already done 1 march!
I planned my trip on the 14th. I would like to make a new building update...

I don't like the combi of purple and orange. I mean , why dont they paint the rc racer in grey like a real halfpipe!

[Alan]

Everyone's complaining about the location/placement of Toy Story Playland, and I agree, it's a weird place to put it.

BUT, if they put some tall trees around it, it's not a problem. You won't see it. Disneyland in California is FULL of trees. It's like a forest. Big Thunder Mountain is right next to Fantasyland, but you don't see it, because of all the landscaping inbetween.

Disney really need to turn the Walt Disney Studios into more of a park, and less of a car park. How expensive can trees be?

[Riebi]

Everyone's complaining about the location/placement of Toy Story Playland, and I agree, it's a weird place to put it.

BUT, if they put some tall trees around it, it's not a problem. You won't see it. Disneyland in California is FULL of trees. It's like a forest. Big Thunder Mountain is right next to Fantasyland, but you don't see it, because of all the landscaping inbetween.

Disney really need to turn the Walt Disney Studios into more of a park, and less of a car park. How expensive can trees be?

I think that´s an important point. Landscaping. If you´re thining a bit about it you will see that Disneyland Park was built complelty diffrent to WDS. They have done nearly ALL the landscaping back in 1992. The attractions they built later had "masterplanned" gaps between other attractions with landscaping ready for it. In Disneyland Park they have just to add an attraction into this gaps without a big landscaping problem.

WDS was a fast built park where TWDC tried out how to built Disney parks without all the "high costs for things that you don´t really need" like a berm, landscaping without a function etc.
(Yes we know today that this wasn´t the best idea)

Now it´s a really hard challenge to add something to WDS. Remember the discussion about ToT. "DIRECTLY behind Studio 1???" "Where is the landscaping around it" etc. etc.
The lack of proper landscaping from the begining is always a problem here. With every new attraction they haven´t just to built the attraction and some landscaping additions, they have to built everything. From ground.

How would Disneyland Park be without all its landscaping details that haven´t a big function if you have a fast view on it but they seperate the lands, they give something to everyone eyes and - a main point - the make the park full. You don´t see any gaps (and they are everywhere. remember Disneyland park is the biggest Magic Kingdom park in the world but has less attractions then Disneyland Anaheim).

They should make a massive invest in placemaking/landscaping to give WDS some shape. From this point of view I won´t say much about TPL till the construction is nearly complete. But I have the hope that they simply have to do some landscaping, if they won´t a TPL that the disney fans like.

[pussinboots]

That's an excellent point, Alan and Riebi. Disneyland in California would indeed not work without its lush landscaping; it would be a little like the Studios, in fact. Imagine how oddly adjacent Splash Mountain and the Haunted Mansion would be without their buffer.

Also a good point about how layout and landscaping should come before attractions. When Euro Disneyland opened, it was already a complete park, even without a handful of rides we've now come to think of as indispensable. The same goes for even Hong Kong Disneyland. Rides fit into it naturally, because the "world" is already in place. There was a jungle before Indy, a land from the pages of a Jules Verne novel before Space Mountain. Splash Mountain will one day (God willing) fit seamlessly into Frontierland, and we'll wonder how it could have ever worked without it. The Studios on the other hand sees itself grow like an improvised quilt...

Although I'm not sure if there's a plant in existence that would successfully glue Toy Story Playland to Hollywood Boulevard.

[lil-shawn]

Disney really need to turn the Walt Disney Studios into more of a park, and less of a car park. How expensive can trees be?

If you pay 5000 for a tree, disney pays 10 000 for one, disney makes all more expansive than it is in reality.
i think WDS looks like a car park because they have investors that don´t like trees or any plants
maybe it is to expansive to create new landskaping for every new attraction, and they think befor we pay that much
money to WDI and the Landscaping department we just take concrete, its cheaper and me as maneger can take a few
thousend for my own pocket

and oh yeah, i really hope they read all those boards, and listen to all the geeks who complain about them!

[pussinboots]

I thought Disney had its own tree farms exactly for this purpose?

[dagobert]

I thought the same. I think I've read somewhere that Disney has one of the biggest tree and flower farms in France or Europe.

[Magic M]

Halfpipe track is being installed:

http://twitpic.com/14bygp (From WDSFans/thebatman_1)

It looks like Intamin track, but the support structure looks different from normal Intamin Halfpipes.

I've got to say that looks FREAKING STEEP!! I've been on a similar disc-o-coaster at Paulton's Park in the South of England and it was nowhere near as vertical as that! On first impressions RC Racer is going to be a full on thrill attraction - and actually looks TOO SCARY for kids!

[tubbsy]

Too scarey for me!

[mommy2ash]

well i definately wont be going on that halfpipe lol

[Alan]

Take a look at this aerial photo of the Honey I Shrunk The Kids playground at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida. There they've hidden the playground, with its tall structures, by wrapping a street set facade around it.



Presumably Disney could do the same in Paris, extending the existing Hollywood Boulevard and hiding all the ugly views of Toy Story Playland in the process.

[mehdi5]

Some construction photos i took of the halfpipe today.







The halfpipe looks awesome if i might say.

[Willow]

I think it looks pretty good, theming looks like it will be added to make it look more like Hot Wheels track. The colour is pretty nice, its looking better than I expected.

Thats definitely not an Intamin Half Pipe (the one in the video above, surf rider). This track has buffers at the top whereas Intamin track looks like it uses pneumatic rams.
And, the car should be smaller and less intimidating than Surf Rider, the track wouldn't be able to take a car of that weight.

I'm expecting this to be tamer than the one shown in the video, just a larger version of a generic Disk-O.
The angle might be steep but I don't think it will be overly thrilling, just fun.

[mehdi5]

I think it looks pretty good, theming looks like it will be added to make it look more like Hot Wheels track. The colour is pretty nice, its looking better than I expected.

Thats definitely not an Intamin Half Pipe (the one in the video above, surf rider). This track has buffers at the top whereas Intamin track looks like it uses pneumatic rams.
And, the car should be smaller and less intimidating than Surf Rider, the track wouldn't be able to take a car of that weight.

I'm expecting this to be tamer than the one shown in the video, just a larger version of a generic Disk-O.
The angle might be steep but I don't think it will be overly thrilling, just fun.

I'm pretty sure it's an Intamin, it looks pretty much identical to this:

I doubt it's a Zamperla Disk-O-Coaster, nothing of the design matches up with one of those:

Plus a car like Intamin's halfpipe makes much more sense than a round one from Zamperla if you look at the concepts.

[Willow]

The track of our version looks much less bulkier and the stopper at the top of the track is different.

The first post in the topic mentions that its a new model from Zamperla based on the Intamin Halfpipe.

[JelleP]

Well, it looks much better than I expected!
The colours fit actually rather well, and the HotWheels-theming will make it even better in my opinion. So I'v got some of my positive thoughts about TSPL back...

[Martyn]

Halfpipe track is being installed:

http://twitpic.com/14bygp (From WDSFans/thebatman_1)

It looks like Intamin track, but the support structure looks different from normal Intamin Halfpipes.

I've got to say that looks FREAKING STEEP!! I've been on a similar disc-o-coaster at Paulton's Park in the South of England and it was nowhere near as vertical as that! On first impressions RC Racer is going to be a full on thrill attraction - and actually looks TOO SCARY for kids!

YES! Some of you may call me silly for saying this, but I am so chuffed its an Intamin instead of that Zamperla rubbish!

They're vertical, they free fall and its going to be around 100ft tall, this will be thrilling! This has made my day.

There's us all thinking we're getting one of these:


When we're actually getting one of these:


Whilst its still not a fantastic Disney attraction, it is now a hell of a lot better than it was this morning

[Anthony]

Thanks for the great pictures mehdi5!

There's us all thinking we're getting one of these:

We pretty much know what we're getting from the concept art and model, it's very accurate: http://www.dlrpmagic.com/guidebook/walt ... ery_02.jpg

[dagobert]

Thanks for the pictures. This thing is really huge. Still not a fan of TSPL.

[littlemermaid83]

The half pipe ride actually looks kinda fun if you was visiting thorpe park or something lol.

It is erm very high though