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Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin

Coordinates: 33°48′55″N 117°55′05″W / 33.815227°N 117.918055°W / 33.815227; -117.918055
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Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin
Attraction entrance at Disneyland in California
Disneyland
AreaMickey's Toontown
Coordinates33°48′55″N 117°55′05″W / 33.815227°N 117.918055°W / 33.815227; -117.918055
StatusOperating
Opening dateJanuary 26, 1994
Closing dateJuly 27,2020
Tokyo Disneyland
AreaMickey's Toontown
StatusOperating
Opening dateApril 15, 1996
Ride statistics
Attraction typeDark ride
DesignerWalt Disney Imagineering
ThemeWho Framed Roger Rabbit
MusicGeorge Wilkins (based on Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2)
Vehicle typeSpinning Toon Taxi Cab
Riders per vehicle4-6
Duration3:30 minutes
Audio-animatronicsYes
Must transfer from wheelchair

Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin is a dark ride located at the Disneyland Park (Disneyland Resort) and Tokyo Disneyland theme parks, based on the Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Both versions of the attraction are located in Mickey's Toontown.[1] The Disneyland version opened on January 26, 1994,[2] a year after the Mickey's Toontown area opened, and the Tokyo Disneyland version opened on April 15, 1996.

History

Roger Rabbit was recognized as a lucrative character by Disney after the release of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and an ambitious set of attractions based on the movie were developed for many Disney theme parks. Roger was even set to be the star of his own land, behind Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland, called Hollywoodland. Meanwhile, over at the Magic Kingdom, a new land behind Fantasyland was being developed in honor of Mickey Mouse's sixtieth birthday, named Mickey's Birthdayland.

There were also set to be attractions based on Roger Rabbit, Judge Doom and Baby Herman opening in a major expansion at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Tokyo Disneyland, but after the financial troubles of the Euro Disney Resort, plans were cut back with only Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland receiving any Roger Rabbit-themed attractions. In the ride, Marvin Acme's "Acme Warehouse" from the film is called the "Gag Warehouse."

Imagineer Joe Lanzisero described the creation of the ride:

This ride grew out of, really, Disney technology. Even though we wanted to do something new and cutting edge, we didn't want to reinvent the wheel. So this is really a hybrid of existing technologies in the park. We physically went to one of our existing dark rides which is a ride vehicle that runs along on a bus bar and we looked at the teacups which are on a little post that spins around. We took a teacup one night off the teacup ride, put it on Pinocchio and went through the ride to see how these two technologies would work together, and it was a marriage made in heaven. Actually, made in Disneyland.[3]

Queue and Ride

The loading area in Disneyland, California.

Entering the Toontown Cab Company, the queue winds its way through darkened Toontown streets and alleys, passing through the Ink and Paint Club's backstage areas like Jessica Rabbit's dressing room and the prop cage, then past the window of Baby Herman's apartment. In a window on the upper floors, the shadows of the Toon Patrol can be seen plotting to Dip the city with the queue passing above their Dip refinery. Exiting this area, the guests return to the Toontown Cab Company and approach the loading area. Characters' voices can also be heard throughout the queue, including two points where the Toon Patrol can be heard discussing their plans, one in the alley in front of the Ink and Paint Club and the other in their hideout. Jessica can also be heard talking on the phone outside her dressing room door.

At the start of the ride's queue, some license plates hanging on the wall have code-like puns of various Disney characters or slogans. They include 2N TOWN (Toontown), BB WOLF (Big Bad Wolf), MR TOAD (Mr. Toad), 1DRLND (Wonderland), 1D N PTR (Wendy & Peter Pan), IM L8 (I'm late - The White Rabbit), CAP 10 HK (Captain Hook), L MERM8 (The Little Mermaid), 101 DLMN (101 Dalmatians), FAN T C (Fantasy), RS2CAT (Aristocat), ZPD2DA (Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah), and 3 LIL PIGS (Three Little Pigs).

Guests board a yellow Toon cab named Lenny the Cab, the twin cousin of Benny the Cab. Each cab seats two people, and the cabs are dispatched in groups of two. Once the traffic light in the loading area changes to green (with the hand on its side pointing left), the cabs leave the loading area. The ride begins with Stupid, Greasy and Wheezy dumping barrels of Dip into the streets, sending Roger Rabbit and Benny spinning out of control, and the guests' cab drives into the Dip as well. At this point, the steering wheel of the cab becomes active, and the cab can then spin around, much like Fantasyland's Mad Tea Party. Nearby, Smarty has tied up Jessica and placed her in the trunk of his car.

The cabs then crash through a China shop run by a bull, who is trying to protect some of his stock. Upon exiting the shop, the cars travel down Spin Street, where Toon fire hydrants, power cables, mailboxes, and streetlights laugh and dance around.

Next, the cabs enter the Toontown Power House, where they pass a furnace with an abstract face and encounter Roger having an electricity fight with Psycho. Passing through a series of explosions, the cabs "fall down" from Toon skyscrapers. Heading closer to street level past a group of stairs, Roger promises to fix things.

The cabs then enter the Gag Factory, going past various jokes and gags, and a weasel named Sleazy holds a large metal gate open for the cabs, intending to "put them out of contrition". Jessica manages to free herself and assault Greasy and Wheezy. Stupid then tries to drop a safe onto the cabs. Just as the Dip Machine (operated by Smarty) is about to Dip the cabs, they narrowly escape and Roger saves the day by stretching his arm out and using a portable hole to allow the cabs to return safely to the Toontown Cab Company, going through a cartoon "The End" title card to return to the loading area.

Voice cast

Incident

See also: List of incidents at Disneyland Resort
  • On September 22, 2000, a four-year-old boy fell out of the Disneyland version of the ride and suffered serious injuries.[5] The victim's family sued and eventually settled out of court. In January 2009, the 13-year boy died due to complications from his injuries.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Strodder, Chris (2017). The Disneyland Encyclopedia (3rd ed.). Santa Monica Press. pp. 420–421. ISBN 978-1595800909.
  2. ^ "Disney history: Roger Rabbit ride opens". The Orange County Register.
  3. ^ Korkis, Jim (2017). Secret Stories from Disneyland: Trivia Notes, Quotes and Anecdotes. Theme Park Press. ISBN 978-1683900603.
  4. ^ http://saturdaymorningrewind.podbean.com/e/14-jess-harnell-interview-animaniacs-the-looney-tunes-show-rock-sugar/
  5. ^ Kimi Yoshino (January 27, 2009). "Brandon Zucker dies at 13; injury at Disneyland brought focus to amusement park safety". Los Angeles Times.
  6. ^ "Boy badly hurt in 2000 Roger Rabbit accident dies". The Orange County Register.
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