Could you be riding Toy Story Mania as soon as next week?

What day is today? March 15th? ... would you believe that in just seven days the first soft openings for the Disney's Hollywood Studios version of Toy Story Mania are scheduled to commence? That's a full month earlier than I had heard before. Don't count on the early soft-openings but, from what I hear, the interior of the attraction is nearly complete with testing going very well.

Toy Story Mania may be ready, but some of the themeing for "Pixar Place" (the new name for "Mickey Avenue") is not quite finished. So it's likely the soft opening will one where they open a door in the wall to guests who may be passing by. Inevitably, some of those guests will be Disney internet fans who will quickly report back to their favorite discussion board. If you're one of those lucky guests, drop me a line with your report.

Update: I've been told by a reliable source not to count on any soft openings before April. Oh well.

Tags: disney, disney world, pixar, toy story mania, disneys hollywood studios, orlando, theme park, themepark, pixar place, wdw

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Disney's Hollywood Studios Rumors

Following the recent announcement that American Idol is coming as soon as this fall, I've come up with a few more tasty rumors for the recently renamed park.

First Toy Story Mania isn't the only other addition coming to the park. That whole area of the park will be renamed "Pixar Place" and will get another ride and a restaurant. The restaurant will be a buffet style eatery themed to Ratatouille. The attraction will be a Monster's Inc roller coaster take on the Nemo coaster that's so popular in Paris right now.

I'm also hearing some rumors about a Nightmare before Christmas Dark Ride. Not too sure about this one, it might just be rumors related to a possible NBC themed special ticket party coming to Hollywood Studios this year.

That's it. If you have more juicy tidbits, please send them my way.

Tags: disney, rumor, disney+world, disneys+hollywood+studios, orlando, pixar, imagineering

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Ratatouille Roller Coaster

Also rumored to be on the fast track to ground breaking at Disney's Hollywood Studios is a Ratatouille themed roller coaster based on the same coaster technology behind the very popular Crush's Coaster at Walt Disney Studios Paris. This would be a mostly indoor coaster located inside Soundstage One, very close to the current location of Toy Story Mania.

Crush's Coaster is the hot new attraction at Disney Studios Paris with long lines forming as soon as the park opens. Expect the same sort of excitement when it opens state-side. Crush's Coaster is built using the Maurer Sohne coaster pictured here. The same technology is expect to be used at the DHS attraction.

Frankly, I don't know why they don't just import Crush's Coaster lock, stock, and barrel. We could have a Finding Nemo themed attraction in three of the four Florida parks. Then we could all look forward to how they could shoe-horn the clown fish into the Magic Kingdom.

Tags: disney, roller+coaster, ratatouille, pixar, wdw, disney+world, theme+park, coaster, imagineering, wdi

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May The Force Be With Disney?

Rumors of a new land at Disney-MGM Studios, excuse me Disney's Hollywood Studios, themed to two of the most popular worlds created by uber-movie producer George Lucas continue to grow. Could Star Wars and Indiana Jones find an increased presence in the park with new or revised attractions and possibly a whole land themed to Lucas' properties?

Right now the plans appear to be small. They'll start by adding a new stage for a permanent "Jedi Training Academy" show. Then slowly they'll expand the existing Star Wars theme to include the nearby "Backlot Express" eatery.

The generic movie making props and theme will switch over to Star Wars and Indiana Jones themed props. This will effectively blend the two Lucasfilm attractions together. At Celebration IV, Anthony Daniels let slip that a new version of the Star Tours attraction is in the works. That would likely be the next step for Lucasland. It's also possible that the Indiana Jones Stunt show will be updated with a few scenes from the fourth and final installment in the series.

I've heard rumors that the plans for "Lucasland" are much more involved. But the powers that be are proceeding trying to get George Lucas back on board first with careful wooing. Apparently Lucas lost some of his taste for Disney after the way Michael Eisner treated a few of his properties. But now that the Walt Disney Company is spending a ton of money on digital effects with his ILM division, everyone is feeling better about things.

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