Today I have four nice scans of the panoramic snapshot prints from Irene, Bruce, and James. I think (based on evidence found among some other photos) that these are from right around when Toontown debuted (which was on January 24, 1993). I have spent very little time in Toontown, other than riding Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, and have never even been in some of the structures.
Here's a nice sunny picture of the way it looks as you entered TT (by walking beneath the train tracks near It's a Small World), and then veered to the west. It's nice to see all the paint looking so fresh and bright; the SoCal sun takes its toll, and the green hills would sometimes fade to a washed out pastel.
Goofy's Bounce House is the blue structure to our left, while I believe that Mickey Mouse's house is the yellow building with dormers and an orange roof. You can also see the golden leaves from the Chip 'n Dale Treehouse.
The three remaining images primarily feature Gadget's Go Coaster. I actually had to look up to see who Gadget was - a character from "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers" - a program that I have never watched. Gadget is described as "...the cute and very beautiful tritagonist from Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. She is voiced by Tress MacNeille". "Tritagonist", eh? That's a new one for me!
Look at that crowd! The Go Coaster is a thrill ride for kids, though clearly adults enjoy its charms as well. Ride length... 44 seconds! I suppose this is a good way to introduce young kids to roller coasters - this one is fast and takes some smooth curves, but it's not too scary.
Wikipedia's description of the coaster is as follows: Guests travel through Gadget's salvaged old comb, soup can and thread spool, and over Toon Lake. Near the end of the ride (the fastest turn), cartoon frogs squirt water above guests' heads. The coaster comes to a stop and pulls into the station.
Thank you to Irene, Bruce, and James!
Minnie Mouse and Cinderella appear in the middle of that first pic! And just a little bit to the right of them, is someone wearing dalmatian print pants or leggings!
ReplyDeleteI always felt Gadget's Go-Coaster was out of place in Mickey's Toontown because it's from a 1980's animated TV show that was part of the Disney Afternoon lineup, while the rest of Toontown seems rooted in the 1930's and 40's.
ReplyDeleteI've ridden Gadget's Go-Coaster once just for the attraction/coaster credit and I've explored Mickey's Toontown plenty of times.
Thanks, Irene, Bruce, James and Major.
For some reason (which probably wouldn't even make sense if I knew what it was) I always thought Gadget's Go-Coaster must have something to do with Inspector Gadget. Go, go, Gadget Coaster!
ReplyDeleteMajor-
ReplyDeleteThe first trip thru Toontown was kinda fun - as was Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin. I believe I rode Gadget's Go Coaster - but I'll be damned if I can remember for certain. (So much for good impressions).
Love the panoramic images-! Thanks - Irene, Bruce & James.
Melissa, I used to love hearing the Inspector Gadget theme song in the background on my TV. No matter what I was working on, when it came up, it would catch my full and complete attention.
ReplyDeleteNext time, Gadget. I'll get you next time.
Inspector Gadget! Go, Gadget, Go!
You're right, Toontown is really colorful in these pictures! Chip n' Dale's Tree House probably still had the ball pit back then.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun, colorful pictures - and being panoramic makes these especially NICE!
ReplyDeleteI noticed Minnie, but didn't notice Cinderella 'til I read TokyoMagic's comments. Good eyes! I must still be groggy from just waking up . . .
In the 2nd picture, that little frog is cute. One of the water spitters, maybe?
Thank you, Irene, Bruce, James and Major - I hope there's more!
Sue
Is Goofy's Barnstormer at WDW the same coaster? If so, then I have ridden it, albetit on the east coast! I do know the Barnstormer is quick. 44 seconds sounds about right. And it was built around the same time...ish....
ReplyDeleteI am pretty darn sure Bruce and Alan would have been there for the grand opening. This was another area Bruce was very excited about especially because it had the Roger Rabbit Ride. I did ride Gadget's Go Coaster as an adult - it was a bit cramped and over before you knew it! I also watched Disney Afternoon shows because my daughter was the right age for those types of shows. I really enjoyed them. I pretty much still know all their theme songs!
ReplyDeleteIrene, after your comment, I now have the theme from Tale Spin stuck in my head (which isn't a bad thing). Disney Afternoon shows were popular with college students, too. Well, at least they were popular with my roommate, my then-future wife, and me.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for sharing Bruce's photos. I am loving these panoramas!
stu29573, both Gadget's Go Coaster and Goofy's Barnstormer are Vekoma junior coasters with Gadget's Go Coaster being a standard model and Goofy's Barnstormer being a mirror layout, so basically they are essentially the same experience with minor differences.
ReplyDeleteOther differences are that Gadget's Go Coaster utilizes a booster wheel lift-hill and operates only one coaster train while Goofy's Barnstormer utilizes a chain lift-hill and has a transfer track to operate two coaster trains. More than you wanted to know, I'm sure.
Chuck and Irene, I watched the Disney Afternoon shows because I was a Disney geek and found the shows enjoyable even in my thirties. I still remember the theme songs as well.
ReplyDeleteLike Nanook, we went through Toontown once, but after that, the only thing I remember about it was the Tail-Wagger specials from Plutos hot dog stand.
ReplyDeleteMajor, in the previous post it was a Sanford and Son reference. I rarely do I Love Luck schtick. Wasn't really my show back then. I was more a Honeymooners guy.
TokyoMagic!, ha, I did not even notice Minnie or Cinderella. Maybe that is Cruella wearing the dalmatian-print leggings?
ReplyDeleteK. Martinez, I guess I can sort of understand why the creators of Toontown didn’t want everything to be from pre-1950’s Disney cartoons. “Hey, we’ve done some good stuff since then!”. I probably would have enjoyed “Rescue Rangers” if I’d ever watched it.
Melissa, I knew there was a Disney character named “Gadget”, so I didn’t have the Inspector Gadget conundrum. But, like I said, I still had to look Gadget up on the Disney Wiki.
Nanook, Toontown’s architecture always felt more “Fleischer” than “Disney” to me. Imagine a truly crazy “Fleischerland”, with Betty Boop, Bimbo, Popeye, Eugene the Jeep, etc!
K. Martinez, I have never seen one second of an “Inspector Gadget” cartoon!
Penna. Andrew, yes, this was long before they realized that ball pits were full of horrible things!
Lou and Sue, yes, I think it’s safe to assume that the frog squirts water. There are still lots more photos from Irene, Bruce, and James.
stu29573, I don’t know about Goofy’s Barnstormer at WDW… I think there is a Goofy’s Barnstormer in DCA that is a “wild mouse” coaster andt is quite different from the Go Coaster.
Irene, there are photos from Toontown’s opening, I just haven’t posted those yet! Unless there was virtually no line for the Go Coaster, I can’t imagine that I would ever ride it. Too much else to do! I only watched “Duck Tales” (which was great), and possibly a few episodes of “Tail Spin”. I sort of wish I could watch all of those now!
Chuck, yes, college kids loved those shows, which shows how well-made they were. Sort of like “Spongebob”, they could appeal to different ages for different reasons.
K. Martinez, thank you for all of the information about those coasters! I imagine you walking up to a huge bookshelf of volumes that cover every roller coaster ever known to man. And then I remember that the Internet exists.
K. Martinez, I don’t know about the other “Disney Afternoon” theme songs, but the “Duck Tales” theme is catchy as heck!
DrGoat, ha ha, I’m not sure what it says about Toontown when the only thing you really remember is the hot dogs! They must have good, so that’s something. Sanford and Son! I would have never guessed. It’s been so long since I saw that show, I’ve forgotten so much of it.
I've ridden the Go Coaster at least once, with my kids. I wouldn't bother to ride it alone. I recall it as very cramped for someone my height, and very short duration. But it was a great little ride for the little ones who were too small for the bobsleds or Big Thunder. Ken, thank you for your encyclopedic knowledge of coasters. Now, all four of us prefer Goofy's Flight School or whatever it's called this week. That one reminds me of the Wild Mouse at Santa Cruz that I rode once with my Dad.
ReplyDeleteI think it's nice that Disneyland has a place for the smallest of the kids, especially now that Bugs Land is being converted to some kind of comic book paradise. Visiting with kids in strollers is a tough gig and having some things geared just to that age is big help. But it is so buzzy that it wears on you after a while. It is not a restful or quiet cul-de-sac in any way. Toontown was always crowded and hot, no trees or shade and few places to sit.
My kids enjoyed the Toontown area, we even waited to shake hands with Mickey once, but this only lasted while they were small. Now we only visit for the Roger Rabbit ride.
I enjoyed the design of the buildings and the "Hollywood Hills". Major, I agree, the designs are very "Fleischer" and I'm fascinated at how they achieved those shapes and made them waterproof.
I vaguely remember those TV shows, my kids loved them, but I never watched them enough to remember the music or characters. It never occurred to me that the characters were mixed between Afternoon Avenue (?) and RR. It's like collecting Star Wars figures, it came too late to do me any good.
Thanks for the great pictures. Very enjoyable.
JG
Came late, and I see all everything I was thinking (Cruella de Vil casually wearing dalmatian pants, Goofy's Barnstormer, etc.)
ReplyDeleteI'll just add that every once in a while, the Toontown houses, especially Mickey's and Minnie's houses, show up on some real-estate Facebook page as a crazy house. I guess that's a tribute to the skill of the imagineers that someone might think it was an actual house occupied by people.
I worked on the Rescue Rangers TV show almost 30 years ago, and I'm proud that a piece of it found its way into Disneyland park and remains there today! Take that, TaleSpin!
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