A Parent's Guide to Disney Infinity - The Disney Infinity Website and Web Codes

Each Disney Infinity character comes with a unique online code you can register. The Disney Infinity website also offers ways to track your in game statistics. It only works if you've already linked your Disney Infinity account on you game console with your profile. After logging into your account at https://infinity.disney.com choose My Profile by clicking your username on the top left.

Game Stats
Here you can see a variety of stats about your Disney Infinity experience including challenges completed, enemies defeated, and stars collected. The more you play and add to your profile the higher the player level will grow.

My Characters
Clicking on the characters you have linked to your profile provides you with all kinds of stats about that character including level, Sparks, enemies defeated, and races won.

Registering Codes
All new characters and play sets come with a 12 character online code. Enter these into the box on the hompage (click Home). Registering these will allow you to play with these characters in the upcoming iPad and PC versions of Disney Infinity.

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A Parent's Guide to Disney Infinity - Toy Box Downloads

If you have and of the HD versions of Disney Infinity (Not Wii or 3DS) you can download extra pre-built Toy Boxes from the Internet. There are currently 5 additional Disney made packs to download. Just follow these steps:

1. Connect your game console to the Internet and set up your Disney account. If you are already a member of another Disney service, such as Disney Movie Rewards, use that login.
2. From the title screen choose "The Toy Box".
3. Choose "Toy Box Share".
4. Choose "Disney's Toy Boxes".
5. Download each of the 5 levels. Once they're downloaded you can play them from this screen, which can also be accessed through the start menu at any time.

Each of the 5 levels offer different gameplay experiences. These were created in Toy Box, which means nothing you see here is something that you could do and all items will eventually be unlocked. The current Toy Boxes are:

WonderlandMaze

This Toy Box is more of a level. Go through the Wonderland themed obstacle course and hedge maze. This stage has a pretty satisfyingly ending too.

Floating Castle

Visit a floating castle in the sky and grind some rails or fly around in a helicopter to see the view.

Medieval Arena

Make your own fun in this pre-built arena. There isn't much to do here but it's a great showcase of the variety of Toy Box.

Tron Sugar Rush

In this small Toy Box explore the elements of Tron or Sugar Rush from Wreck it Ralph. You can also drive a light car (with no trails).

Disneyland

Explore a Toy Box version of e Disneyland park. All the major attractions are there!

Have fun exploring these extra Toy Boxes or use them as inspiration for your own levels! Hopefully Disney releases more soon.

A Parent's Guide to Disney Infinity - Should I Buy This Game For...?

The game is rated E 10+ by the ESRB for Cartoon Violence. If you are willing to let your child watch the movies the game is featuring then the game should be fine for you. If you're uncomfortable with violence of any kind, including cartoon, I would stay clear.

My Under 4 Year Old
Not unless you're OK with spending a lot of money to let your kid run around or you plan on playing the game yourself. You could play co-op together pretty easily, since only one player needs to complete each mission. It would also be good if your kid was really into the characters featured in Disney Infinity. Young children have a hard time mastering controls in a 3D environment and an even harder time with the camera. The challenges also get too tough for the very young.

My 4-8 Year Old
This is the perfect age for Disney Infinity. These kids will have a blast collecting all the figures and Power Discs. With a little patience they should be able to complete the game on their own and learn how to create simple things in Toy Box mode. They also can play with their friends. If your child is pre-reading they may need a little help.

My 9+ Year Old
This is a tricky age group. If your child hasn't decided Disney is uncool then go for it. This age group is the same crowd that took to Minecraft and should be able to create some pretty spectacular things in Toy Box mode. The single player campaign would still be a bit of a challenge but still pretty simple. They may just want their favorite characters or collect everything themselves to complete the game 100%. With all the extra content to find and online creation sharing there are hours of fun to be had.

Myself
Do you love Disney and video games? Then pick this one up. Great fun for adults to co-op together or play online. The story is not challenging but collecting all the Toy Box unlocks will keep you coming back. Toy Box mode offers so many possibilities and so much more nostalgia!

A Parent's Guide to Disney Infinity - How Does Disney Infinity Work?

To children it's magic but how does Disney Infinity actually work? Why does adding a new figure to the base unlock a whole character or world?

Disney Infinity figures are embedded with an RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) chip. The base is an RFID reader, which transmits data to and from the figures and into your game console. Not only can these chips store information about who the character is, they also store very small bits of data such as the character's level and owner. This is why you can bring them to a friend's and keep the same level.

This same RFID chip tells the game which character, Power Disc, or world is on the base. All of the Disney Infinity characters and playsets that will be released are already on the disc. This means that you are just paying to unlock this content. It also means you don't need to download anything additional when you purchase a new figure our playset - you can jump right into the action.

A Parent's Guide to Disney Infinity - What Is Disney Infinity Anyway?

Disney Infinity is a video game for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo WiiU, Nintendo 3DS, and soon the PC. It was made by Avalanche, an in house Disney game studio. The game was released on August 18th, 2013 for all systems except PC, which should be out in October, 2013.

The game comes bundled with three figures of different Disney characters: Sully from Monsters University, Mr. Incredible from The Incredibles, and Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. You also get one INFINITY, one world unlocking statue, and one power disc. So what do all of these do?

INFINITY BASE
Place figures, statues, and power discs on this for different effects. This is connected by USB or infrared depending on the system and works with RFID to read what's on it. It also lights up. You need this to do anything else in the game.

Characters
The game comes with everything you need for one person to finish the game, however, if you want to play two players locally you will need to purchase a second player from each game series, since in story mode characters are confined to their world. (More on this later.) The game launched with 17 characters from 5 different Disney series. Purchasing a figure in the store and placing it on the base will allow you to play with that character in game. Experience is tied to the figure which allows you to bring it to a friend's house and play. The figure must remain on the base at all times to be playable.

Different Worlds
The game comes with a statue to place on the base that unlocks the worlds of the three starter characters - Monsters University, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Incredibles. Each of these stories are about 5 hours long for a average player, although younger children could spend much longer. There are also side missions and hundreds of collectibles to keep you coming back for more. At launch there are two extra worlds you can purchase that unlock their own story - Cars and Lone Ranger. Each of these sets include two figures from those series.

Power Discs
Possibly the biggest money grabbing "feature" of Disney Infinity is the power disc. These plastic discs allow for various power ups and unlocks in the game, depending on which you use. Sometimes you place them in the non-character space on the base to unlock items or skins for Toy Box modes. Round ones can be placed under the characters to provide power ups like bonus health or invincibility. There are 3 series planned but only the first one has been released at launch which is 20 power discs. These are sold in blind foil packs of 2, so there is a good chance you'll get doubles. This does allow a unique trading aspect.

Main Game Modes for HD Consoles (WiiU, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3):

Story Mode
Each world features a unique story that can be played by one or two players. The gameplay of each story is completely unique and themed to that Disney series. You can only play with the characters from that series in this mode. There are chests that can only be opened by certain characters and vaults that require everyone from that series. In each world there are many capsules hidden around that unlock world-specific items in Toy Box mode.

Toy Box Mode
This is huge. In this mode you basically have free reign to create your own worlds using the items you've unlocked. Drive into the mouth of the Cave of Wonders with Lightning McQueen or place a field of pink flamingos to shoot with Captain Jack Sparrow. You're only limited by your imagination... Or the available items and item count. There is a limit to how much you can place, but it's a lot. There are so many items it'd be hard to not have your vision realized in this mode. You're not limited by which characters can play here either.

3DS and Wii modes to come in another update. The 3DS version is a mini game collection and the Wii version has no co-op in story mode.

Check back for more posts in this series "A Parent's Guide to Disney Infinity" for more detailed explanations of game mechanics.