So, you might say it was kind of a BIG DEAL out at the D23 Expo, what with the announcements about the new Skipper Canteen Jungle Cruise-themed restaurant coming to Adventureland, and a little thing called STAR WARS LAND coming to both Disneyland and Disney World’s Hollywood Studios.
Of course, there was even more news than that… from Soarin’ Around the World updates coming to Epcot to more information about Pandora — The World of AVATAR, and, of course, Toy Story Land also on the way to Hollywood Studios.
Toy Story Land Concept ©Disney
Now, I know that’s not exactly food news, per se, but Toy Story Land is going to cover 11 acres so it’s going to be HUGE. Let’s face it — there’s gotta be some food going in there somewhere!
Toy Story Land concept art ©Disney
And since we had such a blast a few years ago dreaming up ideas for a Star Wars Cantina that is now officially going to be a reality, wouldn’t it be fun to come up with some ideas for restaurant and snack options in Toy Story Land?
This looks decidedly counter service-y
Of course, Pizza Planet may be moving in.
Pizza Plane
And we already have Hey Howdy Hey Takeaway (which isn’t a restaurant, of course, but is still one of the cutest darn snack kiosks you ever did see).
Hey Howdy Hey Takeaway
Hey Howdy Hey Takeaway Wagon
So what else? In this Land where guests will “shrink to the size of a toy and explore the world of Andy’s backyard,” what kind of possibilities does that open up for dining options?
It’s Blue Sky Thinking time, folks… or maybe I should say, “To Infinity and BEYOND” Thinking time!
Me? I LOVE the entire queue line and loading area for Midway Mania! Wouldn’t it be fun to have a table-service restaurant themed to Andy’s Room? Tables could be made of lincoln logs and playing cards. Or tinker toys and Little Golden Books!
You’d have to walk through a giant slinky to get to the waiting area (shades of the rainbow tunnel from Imagination past).
Rainbow Tunnel © Disney
That wallpaper will be everywhere!
Andy’s Room Wallpaper
So fun. Maybe someone will get to be sheriff of the day each day!
Of course — this is all speculation, imagination, and day dreaming.
Chime in with your ideas in a comment… we’d love to hear ‘em!
Our handy (and portable!) ebook guides make sure you get the best deals and can plan a vacation of a lifetime.
You have some really good ideas AJ ! You have many talents !! Hope someone from Disney reads this blog and seriously considers your suggestions ! It is great to be a kid at heart !!
I want an actual full scale Pizza Planet, with robot guards, spaced themed arcade games, a rocket, good pizza, and of course THE CLAW! But that might not go into the theme of Andy’s back yard. In that case, I think their should be some fun grilling restaurant themed to an outdoor grill with toys and things hanging around, and featuring some interesting hamburgers, brats, chicken sandwiches, etc.
As for a sit down, maybe do it Woody’s Western theme, kind of like Whisper Canyon or Big Thunder Ranch, have steak, barbecue chicken, pulled pork, ribs, sausage, cobblers etc.. And maybe have it be Character Dining, so we get to hang out with Woody’s Round Up Gang. It would be fun, and unique for DHS, as they don’t really have a restaurant like that. It looks like there is some sort of western toy town in the art, with a large show building behind it that looks like it could be a restaurant. Or the barn, but I think that might be Al’s Toy Barn.
Sid’s Vicious Eats (Food that Bites Back) it could have a lot of hot and spicy foods. It would work well as a quick service. It could allow some Disney Chef’s to expand their spicy skills.
Or
Ham’s Sandwich – (We’re not cannibals around here) Make it a burger and chicken sandwich joint but you can’t get a bacon cheese burger (or any other pork).
it would be so cute to see a baked potato bar or something potato themed to go with Mr. Potato Head!
How about Bow Peep’s! She could serve up lamb gyros, lamb stew, and grilled lamb chops 😉
I love the idea of a bigger, better Pizza Planet! It could be a super cool experience, as Andy stated a few posts up! I just hope that they enhance the quality of the pizza so I could actually stand to eat there lol!
As long as we don’t have to eat anything that resembles playdoh or glue…it will be cool.
Oh, I’m LOVING all of your ideas @Lauren, @Jamie, @Rick VM, and @Andy!!
Both here and in Star Wars Land, I’d expect them to be sticking heavily to the theme, and the theme here is “you’re a toy in Andy’s backyard.” So for a restaurant, the theme should be that Andy or his sister is playing restaurant, and you happen to be the guests being served. I would think something like a counter service restaurant modeled after toy kitchens sold by Mattel or a similar toy company, with whimsical looking food in the style of Universal’s Green Eggs and Ham store. Maybe brightly colored “Play-doh” cookies, or something modeled on an EZ-Bake Oven? Probably not a full meal kind of place, but a neat themed snack stand?
I’d def like a Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head’s Spud Garden with a gift shop in it where you can buy the Potato Heads (PH) and 5 ‘bazillion’ accessories (plus some of their relatives), PH keychains, plush, etc. Mr. and the Mrs. would play host and hostess and have an all American QS menu with an emphasis on baked potatoes, Tater Tots, potato soup, French Fries, potato chips, etc. It would be a fun place to go and eat.
How about ‘Bulls Eye’s Feed Bucket’? It could be a TS with the characters for dinner and QS for lunch and breakfast. Since BBQ is so popular and goes so well with the Western theme, the emphasis could be on the BBQ style foods for lunch and dinner and traditional breakfast food like Western omelets, biscuits and gravy.
Seating and atmosphere would be Western style with booths looking like horse stalls.
My husbands first thoughts were an actual Pizza Planet too! I think that would be a fantastic idea as well! With a pizza planet truck out front or maybe a Pizza Planet truck kiosk? I can’t wait to see what they do!
Something like Remy’s restaurant
Where the customers are like toy size and everything is on a huge scale.
Tinker toy tables, Barbie and Ken or Green Army Men Wait staff, Alphabet block seating. Could be a lot of fun.
Or Jessie’s Cowgirl Corral with Good homecookin and BBQ , So many possibilities hope they do it up right and not make it some lame quick service place. Hollywood Studios needs another really good Full Service Restaurant
We’d love to see a character dining option with Woody, Buzz and friends!!
One of the first thoughts that came to mind when I saw the coaster is that they could have a quick service hot dog stand there where they would sell “Slinky Dogs”.
You could do the fast food restaurant Poultry Palace form the Small Fry short- but build it
like an old Barbie McDonald’s play set.
They need to have those little green alien buns from the overseas parks. A spiral cut potato on a stick that looks like a slinky would be super fun. Honestly I could see a disney infinity themed cafe where Andy has spilled his figures to interact with the rest of the toys. Different themed rooms inside. They coul monetize it so there is a big screen with a really souped up version of a game and charge folks to play for ten minutes while their food comes out. Maybe by playing you get a special disk too.
I think the Mattel kitchen would be a great popcorn cart. Honestly I think it’d be a hoot if you brought your own potato head that you could get it filled with popcorn for fifty cents. I know that they can’t do it like that but something to tie in the nostalgia of the parents. Like a free mr potato head accessory if your whole family brings in their mr potato heads for a picture with me potato himself.
I have to admit Barbie ‘s dream house would be incredible to eat at. It would likely be a large object in a little kids backyard. It could have walk around characters that were both Barbie and a Gi joe type character. These could even change over time depending on the en vogue toy of the time so disney coul license that out for say one year periods.
I’m sure they won’t but if we were really dreaming then it has to be a disney themed Lego restaurant that frankly only a big theme park could do. Legos are neither boy or girl centric and have been in everyone’s back yards for decades. The whole outside and a lot of the inside is Lego but it has the quirky little other toys thrown in too like the blocks and the playing cards. They’d serve croissants for breakfast and sausages for lunch (and other food too). All drinks would have the option of the Lego mug souvenir. It’d have a gift shop of course for disney Lego joint sets only and maybe a set that could only be bought in be park. Or a free duplo with a little kids happy meal and a free commemorative brick with a big kids meal like you get from the Lego discovery center. I think you could have toy story characters walk around because it is the backyard it isn’t legoland it would not have to be minifigure only.
This is their chance to do Pizza Planet right! Make it EXACTLY like it is in Toy Story. People would go crazy over that. I also agree about an Andy’s Room restaurant that looks like it’s made out of toys and things like that. They could also add an Al’s Toy Barn store and a Sunnyside restaurant. If the goal is to make the experiences more immersive then step up and do it. Spare no expense and really nail the themes instead of just doing something “inspired by” the movies.
I zoomed-in on the concept art and couldn’t figure out where “Tot Story Midway Mania” resides. But, I do see what definitely looks like the new Pizza Planet!
It’s so hard to make heads-or-tails out of the layout from these concept drawings.