Five Things to Know About Toy Story Mania!

Toy Story Mania! is a 4D ride through a shooting gallery. But so much more! Its appeal is the same that made the Toy Story Franchise so successful: good old-fashioned fun brought to life in a new way, flavored with a hearty dose of nostalgia. Read on to learn more, but if you’d prefer to skip straight to details like where it is and how to ride, here’s your shortcut.

1. The queue is packed with nostalgia and fun!

Toy Story Mania has one of the best-themed queues at Disney World. As you wait in line, you’ll wander through the box of Andy’s Midway Games playset, built from other toys, board games, crayons, and more. It may be a trip down Memory Lane for adults as you pass by a larger-than-life Etch A Sketch, UNO cards, Lincoln Logs, View-Master reels, and more. A six-foot-tall Mr. Potato Head acts as a carnival barker who often interacts with guests in real-time.

 

There are so many classic toys here, ones that you’ll remember playing with – and your kids might still have in their toy box! (OK, there were a few that I had to explain to my kids and grandkids. If that happens to you, remember you’re not old – just experienced!)

 

And if the decor isn’t enough to keep everyone entertained, you can use the Play Disney App to play the “Playset Party” game while you’re in the queue. You might just get to see Stinky Pete himself!

2. Andy has a new game, and you’re invited to play!

As mentioned above, Toy Story Mania! is a dark ride through a shootin’ gallery; you’re playing the “games” in Andy’s Midway Games Set. Near the end of the queue, you’ll grab a pair of 3D glasses and board your ride vehicle.

Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear act as hosts for your ride through five different carnival-style games as you use a pull-string shooter to hit moving targets. There’s also a practice round to give you the feel of your “cannon”, but don’t waste your muscle here. Save it for the real games; the high score is no easy feat when you’re competing against younger folks whose arms don’t get tired as quickly as yours.

The five arcade-style games that will challenge your aim are

• Hamm & Eggs: Egg that poultry! Er, the pigs! No, the ducks!
• Rex and Trixie’s Dino Darts: Pop flying balloons.
• Green Army Men Shoot Camp: Break those plates!
• Buzz Lightyear’s Flying Tossers: Ring toss, with a Buzz Lightyear vibe.
• Woody’s Rootin’ Tootin’ Shootin’ Gallery: Suction-tipped darts are your ammo.

A few pro tips: Smaller targets give you more points than the larger ones; anything harder to hit is worth more. Don’t pull too hard on the string; it will tire your arm more quickly. Instead, focus on speed – points are what wins, not hit percentage. You and your partner are shooting at the same targets, and you may choose to try hitting “their” targets … you know, the ones that are for anyone, but are on “their” side and easier for them to hit.

3. The ride has changed a bit through the years – even the name!

The Disney World version of this attraction opened at Hollywood Studios as Toy Story Midway Mania! on May 31, 2008. The Disneyland version opened at Disney California Adventure a few days later, on June 17, 2008, and Tokyo DisneySea got its own version on July 9, 2012.

When it opened, Toy Story Mania! was the most technologically sophisticated attraction developed by Walt Disney Imagineering, costing an estimated $80 million to design and build. The game is built on a simple concept (after all, midway shooter games have been around for a while!), but the computing power needed for realism between the vehicle’s shooter and the screen-based targets is substantial. There’s also an incredible amount of automation going into the animated effects.

Toy Story Mania! was incredibly popular after its opening, in part because it was one of only a couple of rides at Hollywood Studios with no height requirement. That’s still true today, and to help decrease wait times, Disney opened a third track in 2016.

Another change: the original entrance was in Pixar Place, but when Toy Story Land opened in June 2018, the original entrance was closed off and replaced with one inside the new land. The Midway Games theme was always part of the ride, but the new entrance design reflects the backstory of entering the box that the games had come in.

So what’s the deal with the name? The attraction has been called both Toy Story Midway Mania! and Toy Story Mania! at all three parks where it exists. Somewhere along the way, the word “Midway” was permanently dropped at Disney World and Tokyo DisneySea. Disneyland is the only park still using the name Toy Story Midway Mania.

4. There are Easter Eggs and secrets here for those in the know.

⭐ Thanks to the screen-based nature of the ride, the games can be swapped out. That’s only occurred once so far: “Bo Peep’s Baa-loon Pop” was replaced by “Rex and Trixie’s Dino Darts” when Toy Story 3 was released in 2010.

⭐ In the boarding area, guests pass under the box that the midway games came in. At the bottom left of the archway, there’s a bar code with the number “121506”. It stands for December 15, 2006, the day Toy Story Mania! was officially announced.

⭐ Hidden Mickeys can be found in paint spattered near the floor and in the clouds near a drawing of Woody. There are more, so have fun trying to spot them all.

⭐ There’s also a hidden Nemo on the wall of the queue, cut out of paper.

⭐ The book titled “Tin Toy” by Lasseter is near the bottom of the stairs before the boarding area. This is a nod to John Lasseter, who headed Pixar and created an animated short called Tin Toy in 1988. It served as inspiration for the Toy Story movie franchise.

⭐ Throughout the attraction, you’re treated to the music and voice talents from the films – plus an extra one. For this attraction, Jim Hanks, Tom’s younger brother, voices Woody.

5. The Nuts and Bolts.

Toy Story Mania! is in Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The queue is mostly indoors, so unless it extends outside the building, you’re out of the weather. The attraction itself is indoors and not affected by inclement weather. In all the ride lasts about six and a half minutes.

Your ride vehicle holds 4 people, but the twist here is that two riders are seated back-to-back with the other two passengers. Each rider has their own pull-down lap bar.

Boarding requires taking a step up into the ride vehicle. Guests must transfer to a standard wheelchair to ride. Disney’s website says that service animals are permitted with caution; cast members will be able to provide instructions. There are no height restrictions for Toy Story Mania, nor any health and safety restrictions. To make the attraction accessible to as wide an audience as possible, the following aids are available from Guest Services for a refundable deposit: Video Captioning and Audio Description.

There’s a bit of swinging and spinning you move between the games, but you’re stationary for 30 seconds at each shooting gallery. Guests rarely have motion sickness issues, but they have been known to occur.

Standby wait times for Toy Story Mania! can average 90 minutes or more. Alternatively, you can enter via the Lightning Lane with a Lightning Lane Multi Pass or Premiere Pass. Toy Story Mania! is open for Early Theme Park Entry, and for Extended Evening Theme Park Hours when Hollywood Studios has them.

The Bottom Line.

“Oh, to be a kid again!” The cool thing about Toy Story Mania at Walt Disney World is that it lets us feel that, even if it only lasts for 7 minutes. Maybe that’s why it’s a must-do for me every time we visit the parks. It successfully combines the pull of nostalgia with the technology of today to create an immersive, fun ride the whole family can enjoy over and over again. Other guests agree, as Toy Story Mania! remains one of the most popular attractions at Disney Hollywood Studios.

Have you ridden Toy Story Mania? Who gets the high score in your family? Let us know in the comments!

(Originally published May 11, 2023. Last updated/republished July 17, 2025.)