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I FINALLY got to ride Toy Story Mania at Disney’s California Adventure (DCA for the Disneyites).  I began my adventure with a 12-hour wait (okay, so it was only 90 minutes but it seemed like 12-hours).  Like Roz from the end of the Monsters Inc ride, an interactive Mr. Potato-Head greets you at the entrance.  If you read the news about this ride (yes, I know I need a real life), we were promised a bigger and better interactive experience.  And it’s not. I was thinking he would be more like Crush in Turtle Talk (if you haven’t experienced this attraction, your missing a good one).  Mr. Potato-Head tells a few interactive jokes, but overall he was pretty disappointing on the “interactive-experience” scale.  Plus they move you past him so quickly, you have little time to be entertained.

There is no FastPass for this ride (what were they thinking?).  In fact, I tried to get the other people in line with me to start chanting “We want a FastPass” but I couldn’t seem to rally the troops.  I know it wouldn’t have done any good, but I would have felt better…until I was thrown out of the park and banned from Disney for life.

TIP:  There is a single rider line so if your kids are old enough to ride alone this line will save hours of waiting.  It’s unmarked, so ask the attendant and he’ll show you where to go.

The ride is in 3D and yes, you’ll make quite a fashion statement in your bright yellow 3D glasses.  Unfortunately, I was so caught up in getting the highest score from my group, I completely missed any cool 3D features.

The gun (okay, it’s not really a gun, but I don’t know what else to call it) is a bit harder to use than in Buzz Lightyear.  It is a small ball on the end of a string that you pull.  It takes a while to figure out how best to work it for rapid fire.

You’ll ride through 5 different carnival-style games.  Each is a bit different but overall you’re shooting things at a variety of changing targets.  You’re placed in front of a variety of screens for a specific amount of time and then moved to the next screen.  You are scored on overall points AND accuracy (my accuracy was only 13% but I had a decent overall score).  If they stop the ride, you do not get to continue to score points but it will let you practice.

TIP:  The highest scoring targets are typically in the very front or top left or right hand portion of the screen.

 If I was running Disney (and I think I should), I would make some changes.  A fun ride and great family friendly addition to DCA.  My rating: 3.5 Mickeys.