Disney Hollywood Studios opened Toy Story Mania, an interactive 4-dimensional ride earlier this spring. I was anxious to ride it after reading that you shoot a variety of carnival type targets while wearing 3-D glasses.

Waiting in the queue, it's a flashback to all the kiddie games those of us who grew up in the 70's remember. Giant size Scrabble, Operation, a log cabin build with Lincoln Logs and a talking Mr. Potato Head are all there to greet you.

We got to the Disney Studios at opening and raced to the ride first, along with almost everyone else! Our daughter Kristen took all of our park passes and got in line to get a fast-pass while the rest of us waited in line for the ride. She got the fast passes and joined us in line. We knew we'd get on this ride at least twice.

Once on the ride, our instructions were simple: pull the string behind your "shooter" and aim it at the screen. There was a practice screen at the beginning so you could practice shooting before any points were calculated.

The car you ride in moves quickly into a position where a screen is in front of you. The ducks, plates, balloons and other targets are labeled with what points they are worth so you can choose to shoot at the higher points items. You will cycle through about 4 or 5 screens during the ride and there's a certain amount of time you spend at each screen trying to score points (don't ask me how much time, I lost track because I'm super competitive so I had to win). A screen on your ride vehicle keeps a tally of your score and oddly enough, your accuracy. Hint: don't worry about accuracy, winning is all about the points you score!

****SPOILER ALERT********DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO BE SURPRISED!

When you shoot at and pop some of the targets such as balloons, you will feel bursts of air and spurts of water too! Also, I read somewhere in a review that you should look for and shoot at the Easter egg on each screen. This wasn't easy to find and it's not labeled with a point value. The entire ride moves rather quickly and you find yourself pulling the string on your shooter with lightning speed. However, if you get the chance to strengthen your triceps before going on ---do so! You'll be amazed at how sore these muscles get if they're not used and this ride puts them to the test.

After getting off the ride the second time, a cast member gave my daughter Kelly a ride switch pass (usually used for parents with a small child that can't go on the ride. It allows the 2nd parent to go in the fast pass lane along with 2 other people). We went back later and I asked the cast member at the fast pass entrance if we could have an extra fast pass since the one given to Kelly would only let 3 of us in. And in usual Disney fashion, they said yes.

We enjoyed this ride so much that we just have to squeeze in one or two more rides before this trip is over so we plan to get up early Monday and go during the extra magic hour early entry at 8 a.m.

This ride is now my new favorite!