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[samuelvictor]

Your fourth paragraph sounds like ratatouille. Cannot wait for it, extra toilets, a restaurant, an exclusive ride, what looks like amazing theming, plus I think from the plans it looks like there will be parade doors so room for expansion. Yyaayyyy!

Yes, my point precisely. It seems to me that rather than "Toy Story Playland" being a distinct area, the whole right hand side of WDSP is being turned into a Pixar themed place. I'm fine with that, as long as it doesn't spread.

When you think of the development as a whole, including a dark ride (Ratatouille), a thrill ride (Crush Coaster), four simpler rides (Toy Story & Cars) & it's own shop & restaurant, it all makes a lot of sense to me. When walking through the area, it became obvious to us that a themed area with Dark Ride was what was probably being planned for after you walk through the barrel, it's actually quite cohesive & makes a lot of sense.

As long as the Pixar theming doesn't spread to the rest of the park, and I'm quite happy with it all.

For me, Animagique, Cinemagique, Art of Disney Animation, Stitch Live & Playhouse Disney make sense being grouped together. As do ToT, Tram Tour, Moteurs... Action, RnRC & Armageddon. Seems to me like the Park fits nicely into three distinct areas. After all these years, its starting to all make sense, and the Ratatouille additions will certainly help.  /  =D>

[davewasbaloo]

I have so many issues with TSPL, I do not know where to start:

Low capacity
Not great attractions for the northern European climate
Creatively lazy relying on toons and big icons
Imballanced attraction menu
Fun fair rides, some of which the whole family cannot ride together
Props that were ripped apart within a week of opening, some have been taken away permanently
PRecious land and budget wasted on these additions, so they are here to stay
Ugly to look at, further ruining the sight lines of frontierland and motors action
The fun fair rides at chessington and nickelodeanland at Blackpool Pleasure Beach have more style -Disney should never place themselves in that position of comparison.

[DopeyDad]

I know this is a well worn path, but which Chessington attractions are you comparing with TSPL?

[davewasbaloo]

The new wild Asia area. I think they are comparable as they have taken a number of theme park standards and tied they together with one theme, added lots of picture points including an interactive tree, as well as a unique soundtrack and animal attractions. There is more variety, it is a similar size and opened the same year.

[peter]

But do you not think it is better to have all pixar properties in the same place, rather than scattered across the 2 parks?

[davewasbaloo]

I would rather not have them at all. Disney parks are at their best when there is no synergy at all - btmrr, pm, PotC, iasw, TOT, soarin' etc. And a land that is just carnival rides should have never been built.

[DedicatedToDLP(Steve)]

I think they can co-exist without much of a problem. I personally am not keen on the TSPL area as it looks a bit gaudy when you compare it the beautiful Disneyland Park but then I accept that it is a different park and it is there to represent films. Of those films Pixar are among the most popular for Disney and to not capitalise on them would be a missed opportunity to get a new generation of fans to the park.

My little boy loves Cars and Toy Story and so was absolutely thrilled to see the area when we went last year, even though we only went on the Cars ride as he was too small for the others. When we were planing the trip we told him about the Cars ride and he was ever so excited. However, he's also signing IASW 12 months later, so those classic rides did have an affect on him. Pixar got him excited before we went and classic Disneyland had the lasting impression - they both work together to make a complete experience.

I'd love the parks to stay in the classic mould of the rides and lands that we all love but as a business DLP has to attract new people and going down the Pixar route is an obvious and probably easy option. I'd love more dark rides but the whole of TSPL probably cost far less than 1 dark ride and was probably far quicker too construct too, whilst giving them multiple branded rides to market.

As long as they leave the other parts of the park alone I have no problem with them building new areas to help bring in new fans. The actual rides them self is not something I can comment on a great deal as I have not experienced them. People that don't like them, what would you have in their place that would have the same market value but also be done for the same price? Or, would you not have bothered at all and only developed at a slower pace that more expensive and complex rides would dictate? Park visitors are up, whether this is due to the introduction of TSPL or not is anyone's guess, but it seems like a bit of a coincidence.

I have a far bigger issue with things like Buzz replacing Visionarium. By all means put new rides in new areas, but replacing classic rides with ones that don't ft the style of land at all is a big no no for me. That attraction should have been in WDS.

[samuelvictor]

That's my point. Once the Ratatouille area is finished, it'll make sense as an area. Big rides, small rides, theming, photospots.

I can see many of Dave's points, (especially about the low capacity of the rides, I imagine the ques can get rather large in high season, but then, so does Dumbo & many other smaller rides) but I feel once the whole area is complete, it'll work as intended. Personally I like the theming of both the ToyStory & Radiator Springs parts. Having them as an introduction to a more heavily themed (& French) area for the dark ride should work well.

[edit] Sorry, when I said "that's my point" I was referring to Peter's comment below:

But do you not think it is better to have all pixar properties in the same place, rather than scattered across the 2 parks?

[DopeyDad]

The new wild Asia area. I think they are comparable as they have taken a number of theme park standards and tied they together with one theme, added lots of picture points including an interactive tree, as well as a unique soundtrack and animal attractions. There is more variety, it is a similar size and opened the same year.

Nice as WildAsia is, I've never got any sense of immersion from it or even the same level of fun as TSPL, and I'm fairly sure if we saw dodgems in DLP we'd not be too happy. I do like the tree which is fun, but game stalls to win a stuffed tigers, dodgems and some not so great painted panels tend to bring it down IMO.
Still, different strokes!

[CafeFantasia]

Disney California Adventure actually has a dodgems ride, called Tuck & Roll's Drive Em' Buggies, albeit a very slow one.

[youtube:1lnmwh47]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaoyxUacFbc&hd=1[/youtube:1lnmwh47]

[davewasbaloo]

and very boring. My kids were 2 and 4 when they rode tuck n roll, and were totally bored.

[peter]

boy do those dodgems look fun. this has made me go book a holiday to disneyland california  :^o

but seriously, dodgems(depending on size) can be really high capacity, i went to some travelling fair where they had 35 dodgems on at a time, could you imagine if they did a mega-dodgems thing, where you had hundreds of dodgems  :lol:

[byron-james]

Im not sure if anyone else has found this but I just noticed that on Bing maps if you find WDS you can see two different time periods of the park at two different zoom levels. As you are zooming in you can see a relatively current version of the park complete with Toy Story Playland and Crushes Coaster but as soon as you reach a certain point you are shown a very young park -- Tower of Terror's foundations arent even set. Here is the link:

//http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=48.8670187333804~2.7780535680153173&lvl=16&dir=0&sty=h&form=LMLTCC

I wasnt sure where to post this (or if i should start a new topic). Im new here but definitely a big fan

[Josh]

Yep, we've already known about that. XD Thanks for finding it, though. It's a good way of seeing how much the park has changed.

[CafeFantasia]

I have a question. Has Toy Story Playland actually increase attendance at the Walt Disney Studios park since it opened in August 2010?

I read that, a reason that Disney have gone off the idea of bringing Star Tours 2 to Disneyland Paris is because it didn't actually increase attendance at the American parks. Sure, it created an initial spike of interest, but it didn't really change anything in the long run.