My favorite ride at Walt Disney World has been Toy Story Midway Mania for quite some time. While I’m not one of those people you hear about that can score over 500,000, I have developed some techniques that have allowed me to score over 300,000 (and get the Bear!). Most of these involve uncovering the secret targets on each screen, but I’ve also picked up on a few tricks besides that. Hopefully these tips will help you too.

(Note: These tips also apply to Toy Story Midway Mania in Disney California Adventure at Disneyland.)

Entering the ride: When I can, I always go to the far side of the vehicle. I’ve found that more often than not, this gets me on the hen house side of the Hamm and Eggs screen. I get more points when I’m on that side, so I try and sit there. Note – this may not always work, but I have found that 80% of the time I end up on the hen house side if I do this. If you’re riding solo, this won’t matter.

Pie Throw Practice: I check to make sure I can shoot high and low and left and right, then stop shooting. Save the arm for when it counts. I have sometimes got on a car where the cannon doesn’t shoot correctly. When this happens, tell the attendant when you are exiting – they will let you ride again immediately if you want.

Screen 1: Hamm & Eggs

There are two main areas to pay attention to if you want to boost your score: The hen house on the bottom, and the barn on the top. It’s much easier to boost your score with the hen house. If I am on the hen house side, I shoot the fox and the hens that come out, while also shooting the two pigs above the fox. When the two pigs go down, a cat appears. Its value keeps increasing until it hits 2000. I keep shooting just these targets over and over (and occasionally hit a beaver or two) and typically score about 30,000 or so. If I’m on the other side, I shoot the creatures in the barn – nail the mice crawling on it and inside and then the barn flips. Suddenly lots of mice worth 2000 appear – shoot as many as you can. Since the mice are somewhat small targets, this is a harder technique than using the hen house, but you can still rack up a good score on this screen if you go for the barn.

Finally got the Bear!

Screen 2: Rex & Trixie

My least favorite screen. This one requires help from your cart-mate to uncover the secret targets. Shoot the volcano lava three times (first 1 lava, then 2, then 3). Shoot the 500 and 1000 target balloons while you are waiting for lava to reappear. After you hit the 3 lava streams, shoot at all the 500 point balloons that spew from the volcano. Then IMMEDIATELY hit the two meteors three times – one on each upper side of the screen. When you get the third hit on each, several balloon meteors come hailing down. In the center of each group is a red balloon – hit it – it’s worth 5000 points. My score on this one varies a bit – as low as about 25,000, but I’ve topped 50,000 when I get the red balloons. If you hit about 40,000, your overall score should be about 70,000 now. I have cleared the meteors when playing solo, but you don’t have much time left to get the red balloons when you have to do all the shooting yourself.

Screen 3: Green Army Men

The key here is shortly after the beginning, two 2000 plates will shoot up in the valleys on either side of the center. Hit them both before they disappear and the center mountain turns around to reveal a tank. The tank alternates which side it shoots, but each plate is worth 5000. Additionally, four plates worth 2000 pop up on each side behind the hills. Keep shooting these valuable plates and you can score 60,000 or more, bringing our target score to 130,000 now. Note – it is possible to hit both while playing solo, but this is not easy. I find the plates come up to the outside of the valleys and aim for the one further away from me first. Of course, if you have another player in your cart, you have to share the 5000 plates with them (don’t you?).

Screen 4: Buzz Flying Tossers

Two different strategies – the better one is to take out all eight 100 point targets in the spaceship in the center. If you can get all eight down before any pop back up, a large robot appears. Each time it appears you can shoot rings into its mouth and get points. The first time its only worth 100 points, so shoot at other more valuable targets then. The value of shooting inside the robot’s mouth goes up to 500, then 1000 and finally 2000. Shoot as many as you can to maximize your score. My target for this screen is 60,000, bringing my overall total now to 190,000. Getting all eight targets down can be done solo, but it’s hard. So the alternative strategy is just shoot the 500, 1000 and 2000 targets on the sides. Every now and then a 5000 alien appears near the top – shoot it as fast as you can. You can still hit 50,000-60,000 using this strategy.

Screen 5: Woody’s Shooting Gallery

Very hard to do this solo. When you hit the 100 point targets, they will “open up” to reveal 5 more targets. Open up all 100 point targets and then hit all the new targets to close them all. You have to do this for each group, as repeating a target won’t help here. When you do, all the targets will pop open worth 2000 points each. Hit as many as you can, then as you move to the final screen, shoot the two 500 point targets near the bottom. A 2000 point target will appear. Also, hit the 1000 point targets near them. On the final mine cart screen, hit every cart as it comes out and the last ones will be worth 5000 (miss one and it won’t). Also, hit the bat twice (1000 points then 5000 points). When the final target appears hit it fast and often. Eventually it will be worth 2000 points for each hit. Keep your arm loose and you’ll shoot faster and it will hurt less. Tensing up the arm is common and it slows you down.

Final tip – have your camera phone ready to record your record score. Take the picture of your score on the cart screen (the main screen is still 3D at this point). And if you’re the high score for the cart, the hour, the day or the month, record it to prove your domination of Toy Story Midway Mania!