Denise's Corner

“Toy Story 4” Press Conferences at Disney’s Hollywood Studios Include Emotional Disneyland “Fantasmic” Story by Tom Hanks

Denise

Hi everyone!

We were invited to the Toy Story 4 press junket at Disney’s Hollywood Studios over a week ago. One piece of the junket was viewing Toy Story 4 – which we have a review of here – and another aspect was visiting Toy Story Land for 75 minutes after hours with the other junket attendees. But the second day of the event was where we were able to hear from the cast and filmmakers at two press conferences. I taped both of them, we were asked to post just highlights and that is what we have below – I chose what I found the most interesting parts. Tony Hale in particular was hilarious and Tom Hanks shared an emotionally story about Fantasmic at Disneyland. Here are some highlights from the press conferences and event!

Photo by Denise Preskitt, Mousesteps

Tom Hanks and Tony Hale have a really fun rapport, with Tony Hale often handling the jokes – Tom Hanks alternated between emotional and funny. In my favorite story from the press conferences (at 3:42 in this video), Hanks talks about a visit to Disneyland and a realization about his role in the show Fantasmic (which he calls “Fantastique” – very French!). He said, “At Disneyland, the closing of the show is the Mark Twain steamboat comes by. And all of the Disney characters are dancing on this steamboat. Belle and Sleeping Beauty, Mickey and everyone.” He stops and continues, “Mulan is there, they’re all there”. He continues with the characters once more, which I think is really cute. “Captain Hook and Peter Pan…and I was there with my family. My daughter, who is in her 30s burst into tears. I said, what’s wrong? And she said, ‘Look dad, look. Look at the end of the boat.’ And it was Woody and Buzz. And she said, ‘Dad, you will always be on that boat dancing for the rest of time as long as Disneyland is here’.”

Another of my favorite lines in this press conference happens at 5:21, with Tony Hale answering the question about what other Toy Story character would he want to play. He quipped, “I’d bring Beaker from the Muppet Show into the universe (to laughter)…cause he’s my fave.”

Tim Allen talked about working as a voice-over talent for commercials before becoming an actor, and even mentions Paul Frees (who did so much for Disney). He likes working with other actors and says that “Doing voice-overs is all about the director”. He brought out a lot of laughs from the audience when he said he’s told the Toy Story 4 creators, “Buzz wouldn’t say that”. Of course, there is much more in this ten-minute video that features Christina Hendricks (Gabby Gabby) and Keanu Reeves (Duke Caboom).
 

Outside of the press conferences, there was also a display of Toy Story 4 toys, including Woody and Buzz Lightyear dolls that fall when you say someone’s coming. These will be very popular! But I really like the walking Forky, which wasn’t nearly as popular for me on social as Woody and Buzz but I think that will also be a hot item once everyone is familiar with Forky. We share some other merchandise as well in the video.

And in our 75 minutes in Toy Story Land, we noticed Woody had Forky with him and Bo Peep was holding her crook. So we spent most of our time with the characters (of course getting a ride in on Slinky Dog Dash as well, one of my favorite Walt Disney World rides). Here is our video with the characters! Woody is not with Forky ever – that could change in the future – so it was a more unique meet and greet.
This was such a fun event and I always enjoy covering press conferences, it’s nice to get insight into the cast and filmmakers thoughts. We had cut our California trip short to return for this, and I’m glad we did.
 
We were hosted by Disney for this event. For full disclosure, we received a dinner as well, and some Toy Story 4 items including a Babybel backpack. All views are mine, including my Toy Story 4 review (we are seeing it again opening day, I love the film and can’t wait to see it again!)