The Ever Changing Landscape
A new ride has arrived in the Disney Parks. It’s name is Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. For better or for worse, it replaces a long standing popular ride in a move that has become the norm for Disney Parks. Since the opening of Disneyland in Anaheim, California in 1955, the castle in the central hub has been the trademark of the park. When The Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, Cinderella’s Castle followed the same model.
When EPCOT opened in 1982, the entire park broke from the established Disney model. Instead of a castle, there was an enormous geodesic sphere in its place. The structure stands 180 feet tall. Unlike the previous castles, the building stood almost immediately inside the main gates. A dark ride called Spaceship Earth was housed inside the sphere. While it was gone through some changes over the years, the ride as a whole is the same.
There’s something in the air in Hollywood
The next major Disney Park in the United States opened in 1989. Known as MGM Studios at the time, it was another change in direction for Disney. This new idea was to be an recreation of old Hollywood, making the whole park a nostalgic look at the history of cinema. Instead of a Main Street USA immediately inside the gates, an artistic version of Hollywood Blvd made its was into the park. At the end of that street stood the newest icon of a Disney Park, The Chinese Theater. It is nearly identical to the one located in Hollywood, complete with handprints in the concrete. It does lack the seedy “actors” in cheap costumes demanding your money for a picture with them like the real theater has, which is nice.
Housed within The Chinese Theater was The Great Movie Ride. This attraction was a dark ride of sorts, which is Disney’s bread and butter. It featured a ride vehicle operator who was going to take you on a trip down Hollywood Memory Lane, showing you detailed dioramas of unforgettable movie scenes. Along the way, you realized your driver was part of the show in more ways than you realized. After a live shootout, a gangster commandeered your ride vehicle to make his or her escape. The bad guy eventually gets what’s coming to them by a curse in an Indiana Jones temple scene. All in all, The Great Movie ride was relaxing but still entertaining break from the business of the park. Sadly, due to the end of some licensing agreements, it closed in 2017.
An Icon gets his due
Rumors quickly swirled of what the next ride would be that would replace The Great Movie Ride. Disney quickly revealed the ride would feature Mickey Mouse. The Walt Disney Company introduced the iconic rodent 91 years ago. He has appeared in countless films and television. He is the “face” of the organization and yet he hasn’t never had his own ride in a Disney Park. That changes with Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway’s arrival.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway features some of the newest technology Disney has been introducing in recent years. First, the ride incorporates a trackless ride system. This was originally introduced in Ratatouille: The Adventure at Disneyland Paris. It utilizes a system of magnets beneath the floor to maneuver the vehicle through the showroom. The free moving illusion also allows for complex choreographic movements with other ride vehicles. This technology has most recently been seen in Rise of The Resistance in Galaxy’s Edge, which is the Star Wars themed sub-park also located in Hollywood Studios.
The ride also features Disney’s new projection animatronics. Disney Imagineers invented animatronics at the very infancy of Disneyland, as a way of making lifelike characters in the parks. Audio Animatronics, as Walt coined them, were complex machines using hydraulic actuators to make a robot seem alive. When Great Moments With President Lincoln debuted at the World’s Fair in 1964, it was huge attention draw. It was moved to Disneyland in 1965.
This new technology still uses a lifesize robot to create movement, but the face is a blank canvas. On the head, light is cast by powerful projectors to bring a three dimensional face to life. This is best utilized to make animated characters come to life in our real world. It was used initially in Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure. It has been used several in several rides since, very notably in Frozen After After at EPCOT.
Opinions are like…wait, this is a Disney Post
Reviews of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway have been popping up all over the internet. Some are critical of the ride, claiming that Disney mailed it in and didn’t take advantage of an opportunity to make something more special. Most others love the ride, emphasizing that Mickey is a character that was finally getting what he is owed. Many people, however, have focused their attention on the use of the newest iteration of the Mickey art style.
A few years ago, the look of Mickey Mouse and the rest of his entourage changed in a very significant way. After decades of the classic look, they began to appear with a more simplistic art style. It was reminiscent of Ren & Stimpy cartoons. The look has not been popular with many Disney fans, this blogger included. I have been critical of it since I first set eyes on it. I will admit, begrudgingly, that it is growing on me. Ultimately, the choices Disney makes with their characters are their choices, and their choices alone. We can be critical, of course, but we are not in charge.
The wait may kill me
I will get my first opportunity to ride Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway at the end of June of 2020 and I will certainly post my review of the ride at that time. Since you clicked on this post because you want to know more, below is a full ride through of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway by my friends at Attractions Magazine.
The new art style of Mickey and friends actually seems to work on this ride, especially with the 3d light mapping on the faces. These videos are great to watch, but I have found through experience that Disney Magic always best experienced with your own eyes.
Have you been on the ride yet? Do you have thoughts on the new art style? Are you still angry at the loss of The Great Movie ride? Let me know in the comments.
Thank you for reading. Hope you come back tomorrow for a Fitness Fridays post.
Christopher Hess, LMT
