The 17-year-old Toy Story Midway Mania has finally received the attention it deserves with a Disneyland 70th anniversary makeover that fulfills the digital promise of the shoot ‘em up dark ride and raises hopes for future holiday overlays that should be just as easy to pull off.
Toy Story Midway Mania in Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure got a 70th anniversary ride overlay for the yearlong anniversary party that kicks off Friday, May 16.
Sign up for our Park Life newsletter and find out what’s new and interesting every week at Southern California’s theme parks. Subscribe here.Disneyland unveiled the new ride update on Tuesday, May 13 during a media preview of the 70th anniversary celebration.
Riders play Toy Story Midway Mania! Is a hunt for you 70th anniversary logos inside California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary from May 16, 2025 through summer 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) Riders play Toy Story Midway Mania! Is a hunt for you 70th anniversary logos inside California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary from May 16, 2025 through summer 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) Riders play Toy Story Midway Mania! Is a hunt for you 70th anniversary logos inside California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary from May 16, 2025 through summer 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) Riders play Toy Story Midway Mania! Is a hunt for you 70th anniversary logos inside California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary from May 16, 2025 through summer 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) Riders play Toy Story Midway Mania! Is a hunt for you 70th anniversary logos inside California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary from May 16, 2025 through summer 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) Riders play Toy Story Midway Mania! Is a hunt for you 70th anniversary logos inside California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary from May 16, 2025 through summer 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) Riders play Toy Story Midway Mania! Is a hunt for you 70th anniversary logos inside California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary from May 16, 2025 through summer 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) Riders play Toy Story Midway Mania! Is a hunt for you 70th anniversary logos inside California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary from May 16, 2025 through summer 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) Riders play Toy Story Midway Mania! Is a hunt for you 70th anniversary logos inside California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary from May 16, 2025 through summer 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) Riders play Toy Story Midway Mania! Is a hunt for you 70th anniversary logos inside California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary from May 16, 2025 through summer 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) Show Caption1 of 10Riders play Toy Story Midway Mania! Is a hunt for you 70th anniversary logos inside California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary from May 16, 2025 through summer 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) ExpandThe ride overlay added a new game with Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear holding targets emblazoned with the number 70 and diamond logos with the words “Celebrate Happy” — the motto for the anniversary celebration.
Walt Disney Imagineering has plussed up all five games on Toy Story Midway Mania with new 70th anniversary goodness.
The newness makes the ride a little extra special, boosts the re-rideability factor and fits perfectly with the 70th anniversary theme.
ALSO SEE: Disneyland’s 70th anniversary celebration — Here’s everything you need to know
Don’t be fooled by the pregame warm-up round where Woody and Jessie hold diamond 70 logos. You don’t want to shoot at the logos on the real games — which are everywhere and worthless pointswise.
Ignore the eye candy and focus on the targets. Many of the targets now have 70s slapped on the points value — making a 100 target worth 700 and 1,000 targets worth 7,000.
It’s important not to get lulled into going after the shiny new 700 point targets at the expense of the regular old 1,000- and 2,000-point targets.
ALSO SEE: Disneyland rolls out 70 menu items for 70th anniversary
Conversely, it’s imperative that you look for the 7,000-point targets which show up in many of the games.
I did well enough during the soft opening of the ride overlay to best all my fellow riders — scoring 195,000 points. The top score for the day: 644,000.
What Toy Story Midway Mania needs now are seasonal game overlays for Halloween, Christmas, Lunar New Year and the Food & Wine Festival.
The Toy Story ride overlay tied to the park’s 70th anniversary fulfills the digital promise of the shoot-‘em-up dark rides that debuted in 2008 at Disney California Adventure and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida.
ALSO SEE: Disneyland’s new ‘World of Color’ and 8 things you need to know
Toy Story Midway Mania riders climb into spinning cars that take them through a series of games where they use a spring-action cannon to fire virtual darts, baseballs, eggs and pies at targets on digital screens.
The rides on both coasts debuted with five games themed to Buzz, Woody, Rex, Hamm and the Green Army Men.
Rex and Trixie’s Dino Darts was replaced with Bo Peep’s Baa-loon Pop in 2010 when “Toy Story 3” came out in theaters.
The digital nature of the carnival midway-style games always meant Walt Disney Imagineering could update the Toy Story dark ride with new games and seasonal overlays — which has been done on other attractions.
ALSO SEE: Mickey and Minnie are still the stars of Disneyland’s newest kids show
Imagineering has updated Star Tours with new destinations in the Star Wars galaxy and introduced a seasonal overlay to Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: Breakout during Halloween.
While a seasonal overlay can take months or even years to create and develop, the story for an attraction can literally be changed with the flip of a switch once the digital update has been uploaded to the ride system.
That flexibility has allowed Imagineering and Disney Live Entertainment to create countless new World of Color storylines since the water show debuted in 2010 – with the latest incarnation debuting as part of the 70th anniversary celebration.
Holiday ride overlays have become a seasonal tradition at Disneyland and DCA on non-digital rides like It’s a Small World, Haunted Mansion, Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters.
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