New Lilypad’s Jams Ride Overlay Coming to Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

ByTom Bricker

Walt Disney World has announced a brand-new ride overlay coming to Toy Story Land in Hollywood Studios in September 2026 with the introduction of “Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams.” Here are full details and the launch date for the Little Green Men’s next mission, plus our commentary about why we love this news.

Let’s start with the basics. Walt Disney Imagineering has announced that they’re adding “new magic” to Toy Story Land in DHS. With this, they’re introducing Lilypad from Toy Story 5 to the backyard alongside Woody, Jessie, and Buzz Lightyear in Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams. This spirited, frog-shaped smart tablet is on a mission to connect friends, and she’s using her tech to bring toys together for an all-new soundtrack to Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams!

With DJ Lilypad on the 1s and 2s, this fresh new lineup features reimagined Toy Story classics and brand-new songs written just for this attraction that are sure to have you riding again and again. Lilypad is the maestro behind the music, connecting to the internet to remix and mashup different tunes from a variety of music styles and genres.

Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams Opening Date

Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams will debut in Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios starting Friday, September 25, 2026.

Walt Disney World has not shared an end date for the Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams ride overlay or even if there is one. While it’s being tied to the release of Toy Story 5 on Disney+ and probably pulled from that promotional budget, our expectation is that this will be permanent if it’s well received by guests. More on that in the commentary.

Lilypad’s Jams: Fun Outside the Ride

You don’t even have to ‘swirl with the aliens to join the fun! Lilypad is DJing for all honorary toys in Andy’s Backyard, whether or not you’re riding Alien Swirling Saucers. Above is a closer look at DJ Lilypad.

Offboard, guests can sing along as DJ Lily hypes and introduces tracks from her playlist and provides a variety of entertainment between tunes. Try to guess which toy she’s doodling on her drawing app, help her unscramble puzzles, and even watch “home videos” she’s recorded of some of your favorite Toy Story pals.

In addition to this, Alien Swirling Saucers will receive a new banner below the attraction marquee to signal to guests that DJ Lilypad has taken over. Here’s a look at the updated entrance via the concept art:

Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams Soundtrack

To record this new soundtrack, Imagineers took to Nashville, working with world-class musicians, hopping across genres such as pop, country, EDM, and alt-rock.

“We wanted to think about the music in a completely new way—taking beloved songs from the Toy Story films, and create catchy new original songs, that are singable, sincere and a little cheesy, as one is about Pizza Planet,” said Thomas Niederhiser, Senior Creative Producer at Walt Disney Imagineering.

The Toy Story films are known for iconic songs that bring audiences into the journeys and stories of their favorite characters. We’re excited to reimagine some of these most beloved tunes—like “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” “We Belong Together,” and “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away”—and infuse them with a new swirling energy just for this attraction.

In addition to remixing classic Toy Story favorites that you know and love, Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams will feature brand-new songs, like the deep crust cut “Pizza Planet Promo,” the in-story theme song of everyone’s favorite pizza arcade, and “Spin It Back, Lilypad,” a tribute to the newest toy in the backyard.

Here’s a look at Imagineerings testing the music for the ride overlay, along with a brief first listen to “Spin It Back, Lilypad”:

“Collaborating with our partners at Pixar Animation Studios to write for these characters and expand their stories is just pure joy,” said Geoff Line, Senior Story Lead at Walt Disney Imagineering. “We played with these toys as kids. Now we get to play with them as Imagineers. It doesn’t get better than that.” And with Lilypad as DJ, plenty of your favorite toys, like ‘Partysaurus Rex,’ are sure to get more airtime.

Since the first Toy Story film debuted in 1995, its story has connected with audiences around the world. And now, with the release of Toy Story 5, new generations of fans are building memories with the film series. That will soon extend to the backyard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, bringing all-new music to Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams, beginning Friday, September 25, 2026. Before that, you can catch Toy Story 5 streaming on Disney+ starting September 23, 2026.

Our Commentary

We love this for several reasons, both subjective and more objective.

For one thing, we are firmly in favor of Walt Disney World doing more enhancements, seasonal or temporary overlays, etc. We laid out the case for this a couple of years ago in Why Disney World is Wrong About Holiday Ride Overlays. That uses Glimmering Greenhouses as a ‘case study’ to advocate for more holiday overlays at WDW, such as Haunted Mansion Holiday at Magic Kingdom.

Admittedly, Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams isn’t as good of an example. This will hold a lot of mainstream appeal given the smash success of Toy Story 5, but at the same time, the average guest was probably going to ride (or skip) Alien Swirling Saucers regardless. It’ll still move the needle more with repeat visitors.

We’ve already seen a lot of this in the last year at Walt Disney World, including several examples at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This is largely thanks to the on-site Florida Imagineering team that’s leveraged a ‘singles and doubles’ strategy to spectacular success. Their approach is refreshing, and feels more “Disneyland-esque” than anything Disneyland has been doing.

Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams is yet another thing that is aimed more firmly at fans, Annual Passholders, and Disney Vacation Club Members. It is refreshing to see Walt Disney World embrace this mentality, which used to be almost exclusive to Disneyland.

We’ll continue applauding these efforts at keeping the parks fresh via the little things, and giving longtime fans good excuses to plan return trips. We also love to see another enhancement that feels more tailored towards young families. Between Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams and the Magic of Disney Animation, it feels like there’s a lot more for our toddler to actually enjoy at DHS.

On top of that, this is a ride that could use a shot in the arm, despite being less than a decade old. We’ve never been the biggest fans of Alien Swirling Saucers, which feels like it squanders a bit of its potential as compared to its counterparts in California and Japan.

The little green aliens pilot spaceships that spin and whip around guests in an attraction that is very similar to Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree at Disney California Adventure. This is basically the tea cups at Magic Kingdom, except with guests in freely moving trailers attached to the tea cups instead of in the cups themselves.

As explained in Why We Skip Several Popular Rides at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Alien Swirling Saucers is a cute and fun attraction, but it’s nothing special. It lacks the quirkiness and personality of Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree or the Happy Ride with Baymax, and falls a bit flat as a result.

Both Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and the Happy Ride with Baymax capture lightning in a bottle and are something special. Despite being flat rides using the same system, they punch above their weight and are worth the elevated waits. (At least, within reason. I’ve seen the Happy Ride post 120 minute wait times, and it is absolutely not worth that. It’s just as much fun to watch!)

They do that almost exclusively via their music, which creates an infectious energy. Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams has the potential to do that if it adds tracks that are quirky, fun, and get guests excited. There’s obviously no guarantee that this will happen, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to try. The Little Green Men are fun characters and this could be a high-energy attraction with just a bit more personality and pizzazz.

Based on the description of the ride overlay, it sounds like this is the goal of Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams. For one thing, Imagineering touts the Lilypad display, which is aimed at drawing guests over here and engaging them even when they aren’t riding the attraction. That is a big part of the Happy Ride’s success, although that’s also cultural; I don’t think that could ever be replicated in the US.

The Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams playlist also sounds like it could match the energy of Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree or the Happy Ride with Baymax. In particular, the new “Pizza Planet Promo” and “Spin It Back, Lilypad” could easily have that quality. But depending upon how they’re remixed, so too could the other tracks. Imagineering using the word “cheesy” to describe the choices is honestly a good sign!

This is what I think is the actual aim of Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams, as opposed to being a Toy Story 5 promotional ride overlay tie-in, like we’ve seen in the past in Toy Story Land and beyond.

Perhaps the original funding for this came from the studio marketing budget, but I believe that was probably just the conduit for Imagineering getting a second crack at giving Alien Swirling Saucers the same type of ‘secret sauce’ that its counterparts already have.

That’s why I also think the ride overlay will continue indefinitely if well-received, as opposed to having a limited shelf life.

Although the converse is also true, that it could end up having a limited run if guests don’t enjoy the songs, feel like they’re grating and trying too hard as opposed to being fun and organic, etc. I’m optimistic, though. Imagineering did a great job on The Happy Ride with Baymax, and that could provide a great template for this project.

One thing it has going for it already is the name. My favorite thing about the ride is its acronym, because I have the comedic sensibilities of a 7-year old. (Do you know how many times I’ve resisted the temptation to throw in a stupid pun here?! The true sign of maturity and restraint!) Add to that spending more time in Toy Story Land and what’s often a wait time above 20 minutes, and this is an easy skip for both of us. We’d rather do Toy Story Mania a second time, even if the wait time is double A.S.S.

The problem is that we no longer are “both of us,” but rather “all three of us.” And our daughter, Megatron, is starting to have opinions, and rather strong ones. One of those is that Toy Story is basically the greatest thing ever, which she’s not wrong about.

Although she loves Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (despite it being dark–usually a red flag for rides), she’s not a fan of Toy Story Mania (it stops too sharply). However, she loves Alien Swirling Saucers. These spinners are her speed of a thrill ride, and she wants to ride them again and again. That would be fine, given it’s the only attraction she can do in Toy Story Land.

Unfortunately, Sarah cannot ride spinners repeatedly, so it’s just Megatron and me, looping them. That’s not usually a problem on Mad Tea Party or Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree or other equivalents, but Alien Swirling Saucers and those 20+ minute posted wait times make it tougher. I would hazard a guess that wait times will actually increase a bit with Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams, but so too might the quality, making the attraction more “worth it.” Maybe this will give us more of an incentive to loop it during Early Entry and around rope drop, or to stay late and outlast the crowd.

Ultimately, we’re really looking forward to Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams. We are very squarely the target audience for this attraction right now, but the two adults in our family haven’t exactly been enamored with the attraction. In fact, just last week, we were discussing how much of a letdown it was relative to the fun versions elsewhere.

Our hope is that Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams changes that. If it’s anywhere on par with Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree or (especially) the Happy Ride, this has the potential to measurably increase wait times. At the same time, it has the potential to make those longer lines more worth it, too. Here’s hoping that happens!

I’m sure we’ll inevitably experience every song selection on Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams in a couple of weeks, and we’ll report back with definitive “rankings” in early October. So stay tuned for that–I’m sure you’re already on the edge of your seat!

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Your Thoughts

What do you think of Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams? Does this ride overlay potentially move the needle for you on A.S.S? Is it a must-do or must-avoid for you, regardless? Even if this particular plussing doesn’t appeal to you, do you like the idea of Walt Disney World doing more of this nature? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!

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