Toy Story Midway Mania

I walked 5 miles today. I’m kind of surprised at that. I’m betting most of it was to get back to Toy Story Midway Mania.

And that’s where I headed once I checked into The Desert Inn & Suites. I finished his sentence when he started into “and your room is way in the back.” I know.

But I was able to get into California Adventure by 3 pm, and start singing to the California songs as I made my way, a long way, to the area of the park that boasted roller coasters. I found the line and got into it. I was pleased that, since it was over 80 degrees in Anaheim today, only about 10 minutes of the line was in the sun. About 20 minutes after that was under umbrellas that had been put up, and then I made it into the line protected by the structure itself. 40 minutes all together.

I took several photos of Mr. Potato Head, as voiced by Don Rickles, as I went by. Mr. Potato Head is constructed so that he can interact with the crowd. Very little of that, however, was going on. He said something pointedly to a boy, but there was no boy in front of him at the moment. And I never saw him remove his ear, which I understand is one amazing trick.

However, the line moves swiftly, and you spend less than 5 minutes in front of the big potato. The line moves right on. Before the final turn, the line goes by the 3D glasses, and invites you to take one. The children in line seemed to wonder why they were there, and the wait was torture for them. The teenagers looked bored, but seemed to believe there was pay dirt at the end.

The carts have two people in front, and two in back. I got in and they put someone in beside me. As it turned out, she has done this once before, she told me in our short chat before it got too loud. She pointed to the two younger boys she was with; whomever got the lowest score, she explained, had to buy dessert tonight.

We faced five different targets. I would guess that the ride is 10 minutes, but I really have no idea. It does seem reasonable that we spent two minutes on each target, but it may very well have been less. The cannon was operated by pulling a string, and I loved that. It didn’t bother my trigger thumb at all. The idea is that you’re supposed to let the string completely retract before you fire again. I found this happened very quickly, though, and learned that I could fire rather quickly. Each time I exited the ride, I was huffing and puffing from exertion.


I could have done without the whirling of the cart, however. I guess it’s necessary to get to the targets. What comes out of the cannon (as Dawn asked me later)? It depends on the game. Sometimes it’s a small pellet. Sometimes a large ball. Once it was rings, three-dimensional rings coming out of a red cannon as I tried to wrestle aliens with them. It was amazing.

Every target has a score on it, and you obviously shoot for the larger-scored targets. Forget 500. Wait for the 1,000 and sometimes even 2,000. And sometimes the items float above. My projectile might graze them but not explode them.

The most fun was hitting the dishes and breaking them. I think that’s the one where the game squirts water at us. It didn’t deter me.

Oh, the young woman who rode in my cart told me there’s a singles line. I found it, and for the next two times, that line cut my wait time in half. And she had the highest score, so she’s feasting on a churro tonight.

I would have held out for a sundae, personally.