PHOTOS - Toy Story Land construction from the air

Jan 08, 2018 in "Toy Story Land"

Gallery / 11 Photos
Toy Story Land aerial pictures

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Posted: Monday January 8, 2018 11:04am EDT by WDWMAGIC Staff

Today we have our first look at Toy Story Land in 2018 ahead of its opening this summer.

Toy Story Land wide view

These new aerial images show a lot of progress since our last update, with much of the landscaping and theming elements now in place.

Most of the remaining work appears to be around the entrance to the land near to Walt Disney Presents and the new entrance to Toy Story Mania.

Entrance to Toy Story Land top left, and Entrance to Toy Story Mania right

Click the gallery to see all the new aerial pictures of Toy Story Land.

Photos for WDWMAGIC by Colin Chardavoyne @cchard

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MrPromey7 days ago

Appears to be out of print but it looks like Amazon may have a few used copies - I'll try to check it out. Again, thank you. :)

Gusey8 days ago

No worries. I do recommend Melody Malmberg's "The Making of Animal Kingdom" for anyone interested in AK's history as the park's development went through a lot of changes from 1989 to the announcement in 1995

MrPromey8 days ago

Thank you. That's the first reference to actual construction timelines I've ever seen when it comes to AK. I appreciate the effort on that and I'll shut up now. (well, about this, anyway :) )

MrPromey8 days ago

I don't think you'll find it on this website because it didn't exist back then.

GoofGoof8 days ago

Yeah, I don’t disagree that the shade situation in the whole land is an epic fail. I still think it’s a design flaw and I agree it would be a lot more difficult and expensive to try to fix it now.

James Alucobond8 days ago

This particular shade structure is a tiny strip bandage on a gaping wound. It's true that it alone probably does not represent significant cost; in fact, its budget was likely tied into the kitchen expansion at Lunch Box. However, the fact that a massive line of umbrellas constantly dots the approach to Slinky Dog demonstrates that tackling the issue in its entirety would probably be quite costly and need much more design work than the couple of K'Nex shelters in this update.

GoofGoof8 days ago

Unless I’m missing something we are talking about a shade structures with some light theming. The original Toy Story Land project had a budget just under $300M and that may not have included the sit down restaurant that opened later. How much could this shade structure cost?

AidenRodriguez7318 days ago

We know thats not really true especially with projects being overbudget

GoofGoof8 days ago

I guess, but we are talking about some shade structures. The cost is a rounding error on the total project cost.

lazyboy97o8 days ago

But then you’re paying for it instead of something else. Easy to not do it first knowing the park will want it enough to pay for it later.

GoofGoof8 days ago

It always comes down to money 💰🤑 This is why I consider it a fail in the design of the land. If they took this into consideration from day 1 it could have been paid for with the initial project budget.

AidenRodriguez7318 days ago

My bet is definitely financial. Different departments fighting over a shared pool of money. Certain departments got it easier or put in their requests earlier while the others had to wait to spread out the cash flow. You can see it when one park gets a few extra stuff like MKs small enhancements recently while HS had a TON of money dumped into it and will get it again

GoofGoof8 days ago

Yeah it probably took a few months at most of actual construction. I believe it was only greenlit after someone from Disney witnessed me nearly sweating to death walking through the land one hot Summer day. If that ladder was there I would have attempted to stand in its shadow. I have no evidence the decision was based on my desires, but the timing lines up:) The crazy part to me is Disney actually usually does consider things like the heat in FL in the Summer when building attractions and when designing queues. If you go to a place like LEGOLAND you appreciate more what Disney has done. I have no idea why they didn’t incorporate more shade in the design and why it took years to add some.

Gusey8 days ago

Here's a quote from the Melody Malmberg book saying constructionon AK began in August 1995: "Back at Imagineering there was elation, adulation and frantic activity. Jack Blitch recalls the fallout : "Everyone realised it's a real project!" Bids on contracts came in on or under budget. The earth-moving for Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park began in August. With opening day set for Spring 1998, a mere two-and-a-half years remained to build Disney's largest-ever theme park."