Toy Story Land AP Event
Back in July, Disney announced a special event for WDW Annual Passholders called Passholder Play Time. It was offered in September for various days throughout the week at 7 am and 8 am. It provided pass holders access to Toy Story Land for an hour with little to no wait times on the three rides along with the character meet and greets. And Woody’s Lunchbox was open for breakfast. Mom and I were able to snag a reservation for 7 am on one of the days during our September trip.
We were really unsure of what to expect, but luckily the week before our trip there were other people who attended the event and wrote about it. Our biggest concern was what to do from 8 until 9 when the park opened. My original plans that day were to spend some time that morning at the parks with Melody. But everything I read said that you could actually stay until 9 even when the 8 am people arrived. And the 8 am people could actually come earlier if they wanted. That was a nice relief.
While the AP Event is no longer going on, Disney has now released Early Morning Magic for Toy Story Land. It is somewhat similar in concept. You arrive at 7 or 7:30 am. You get access to the three rides and character meet and greets within Toy Story Land with little to no wait. You also get access to breakfast at ABC Commissary. Of course this event is not free, but the nature of the event is similar. I loved the AP event so much, I plan on us trying Early Morning Magic on our next family vacation so that Brad can experience it like I did.
I want to share my experience at the AP Event to give a little bit of insight of how the EMM might work and to also give my overall thoughts on Toy Story Land in general.
So to start the morning, we arrived around 6:45 am at Hollywood Studios. We stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter, and we weren’t 100% sure if the buses would be running that early since this was an AP Event. My mom also said the new bus stops were awful and a really long walk. So we opted to drive since we had a car. Unfortunately mom said the walk wasn’t much shorter, and parking was utter chaos because there wasn’t much of anyone to help guide you.
When we made it to the gates, we were greeted by a castmember who asked for our names and then gave us special wristbands for the event.
At 7 am, they let us start scanning our bands to get in the park, and they led us to Toy Story Land.
First off, my expectations were super low for this new addition. I like Toy Story, but all that I read about the new rides just didn’t seem to justify a whole new area dedicated to the movie. I mean I had high expectations for Pandora, and I was disappointed in it (but that’s another story for another day). So that could also have played a part in my expectations for Toy Story Land.
Well I was highly surprised at how much I liked Toy Story Land just from entering it. It really did feel like you were the size of a toy in this well themed portion of the park. It was also really nice walking in without a huge crowd of people.
I loved that it was still a little dark when we arrived because the lights were really pretty. I think it would be gorgeous at night!
When we first arrived, we went to the Alien Saucers. Everyone went to Slinky Dog first, so there was literally no one in line for Alien Saucers. This was also the only one of the new two rides that Melody could ride. They did make her stand at the height marker though!
With this event, they put a Fastpass for each ride on our Magic Bands. So we got to go through the Fastpass line first. While Melody looked slightly scared (see the picture below), she LOVED this ride! I honestly think we rode 8-9 times. Every time we got off, she immediately wanted to get back on. She would have actually been satisfied if we had never gotten off to begin with!
As far as the ride itself, I was expecting it to be similar to the tea cups and make me sick, but I didn’t feel sick at all. We rode it numerous times in a row without feeling queasy whatsoever. I would not ordinarily ride it over and over though. It was super short and while it was generally cute, it is not worth the average wait. I also wouldn’t use a Fastpass on it over Slinky Dog, but having a two year old that isn’t tall enough to ride Slinky Dog doesn’t always give us a choice.
In between rides with Melody on Alien Saucers, mom and I each took turns to ride Slinky Dog. I actually rode it twice. Both times, I literally walked on and could pick any seat on the ride. It was amazing being able to walk on the ride knowing the ordinary wait times people usually experience.
The queue was ok. Obviously I didn’t experience every part of it since we were able to just walk on, but I was able to snag a few pictures. The biggest fault of this queue is that it is all outdoors. I can imagine how miserable this would be during the summer!
The ride itself was really great. I expected something more on par with Barnstormer or even Mine Train, but this surpassed both of those. It was full of lots of surprises throughout the ride, and it was truly one of my favorite roller coasters now. Not my absolute favorite, but one of the top contenders for sure. I was actually surprised at how low the height restriction is considering how exhilarating the ride is!
After riding Alien Saucers 8-9 times and Slinky Dog 3 times, we called it a day. It was only 8 am, and I honestly wasn’t sure we could survive another hour plus other parts of the park. It was exceptionally hot, and we were really hungry. I didn’t find anything I loved from Woody’s Lunchbox, so we opted to go back to the hotel and eat breakfast there. On our way out, we did take a quick picture in front of Melody’s favorite ride!
Oh, and I got a small sneak peek of Star Wars Land. You get an even better view while riding Slinky Dog.
It was really neat walking back to the exit with the rest of the park being closed. Literally no one! I also found it neat that characters were standing at the entrance greeting people that were waiting in line to enter the parks.
Overall, I loved this event. Of course it was free which made it even better. But the no wait times to ride such popular rides was amazing. I can’t wait to give the EMM a try next year. I hope it is half as nice for us. Oh, and Toy Story Land was great. It exceeding my expectations, and I can’t wait to ride the rides agains.
