Intro
I know I was gone for a while but I’m back, I just don’t know for how long cause my schedule is really tight. So recently I’ve been getting into ‘What If’ Scenarios, and I wanted to do one as a little experiment. Now when MGM Studios opened, they were planning a new expansion for the park (which became Sunset Boulevard), and one of these early concepts was for a Roger Rabbit themed land. Now the land had multiple rides and themed attractions planned but it ultimately got cancelled. This was mainly due to controversy between Amblin Entertainment and Disney over the rights to Roger Rabbit. This is why we never got a 2nd movie or land.
But what if we did get a Roger Rabbit themed land? What if Disney had the rights to Roger Rabbit secured and they were able to make the land and the cancelled sequel movie. And what if I designed a Roger Rabbit land utilizing the area for Sunset BLVD? What rides, attractions, and details could I bring to this cancelled land. That’s what I wanna do today.
Of course take this concept with a pinch of salt, I’m not an imagineer and have no experience in the theme park industry. I’m just an enjoyer of theme parks and I love making concepts for rides and attractions.
Original Concept
We don’t know how much about the original land, I doubt there is even any concept art of the land’s layout. There are some details we can look at though.
There was gonna be a red trolley going through the land, with a Maroon Studios building in the back of the land. Rumours also state that the land was going to be based off the toon town area.
Now focusing on the rides, there were about 3 lands planned. The first was a simulator attraction called “Toon Town Transit”. Where guests would board a sentient bus and travel through Toon Town, encountering Roger Rabbit on the way. The second was a dark ride themed to a Roger Rabbit short where riders would get into Baby Herman’s buggy and ride around a hospital. Later this concept would get abandoned and later become a concept for a ‘Benny the Cab’ centered dark ride (like the one we eventually got). The final ride was the biggest one yet, and we also have a sufficient model for it as well. The attraction would’ve been a roller coaster based off the Roger Rabbit coaster short. The ride looked like there would’ve been fake-outs and fake coaster track parts.
Concept
We looked at the original concept, now it’s my turn to make what I think a Roger Rabbit themed land would be.
Before we walk into this land, I have a special aspect I’d like to implement. Today, we’ve seen a sort of ‘quest’ focused game for themed lands. Such as the wands in Harry Potter or the wristbands at Nintendo Land. Now in my Blue-sky Concept for Hollywood Studios, I added one of these interactive games to Galaxy’s Edge. I wanted to add one too for Roger Rabbit, imagine the Ducktales game (or if you’re cool) the Phineas and Ferb game at Epcot, but with more interactives. Guests will be able to enter Valiant’s office, where they would be given a mystery, to track down any remnants of the “Dip” formula. Guests will be able to go around the land (with Roger) and solve this mystery once and for all.
The land would start off similar to Sunset BLVD, with retail stores would layer the street. Where the Cathay Circle store is currently, we’d get the Ink & Paint Club, the fictional club we saw in the movie. A small alleyway would allow guests to see Jessica playing Patty Cake with the owner of ACME warehouse (I feel like people are only gonna get it if they watch the movie).
Walking past it we see the tunnel leading to Toon Town. Now this version of Toon Town would be a smaller mini-land of sorts. When we first walk in, we see Mickey’s House in Toon Town. It made sense to add some sort of Meet-and-Greet opportunity in the land, and don’t worry Roger will also get one. We also have Roger Rabbit’s Home. A walkthrough attraction ending with a meet-and-greet with the Rabbit himself. Walking past that, we enter the main downtown section of Toon Town. Stores would be themed to famous cartoon characters, and a small play place like in Disneyland’s Toontown Firestation would preside here as well. Into the land, we have The Green Tophat, a quick-service restaurant and play on the Brown Derby. Where you can see pictures and props from famous cartoon characters. This is also where we get our first ride of the land, Toon Town Transit. Very similar to the original pitch for the ride. Guests would board a Bus Tour around Toon Town, until it gets hijacked. Like Star Tours, this section would be randomized. Either your bus gets hijacked by the Weasel gang or it gets hijacked by Roger himself. With the objective/goal of the hijackers being randomized. Such as the weasels fighting Roger Rabbit over a large amount of cash, or Roger running from the police or something like that.
The Toon Town section ends when we emerge from a comically large portable-porthole, like the one Roger Rabbit uses at the end of Car-toon Spin. Let’s rewind for a second and go back, right before we entered Toon Town. Walking down the main section, we see small details from the movie, such as Valiant P.I. sign with a Rabbit shaped hole in the glass. Also on the street, we’d see a truck owned by the weasels, with Benny’s voice being heard from inside. Where Sunset BLVD’s quick-service would’ve been is Benny’s Cab Catering, a quick-service restaurant themed to Benny’s Cab Company. Speaking of him, our next ride is well based on him. Benny’s Quick-time Pursuit would be similar to the Roger Rabbit ride we did get in our world. With a similar story and thematic elements. Along with everybody’s favorite part of the ride, the queue section!
As we walk further down the land, we see a small food stall called Baby Herman’s Cookie Jar, selling freshly baked cookies (but knowing theme park food, is it really fresh?). Near the end of the road, we get the ACME Warehouse building. Roger Rabbit in: ACME Mayhem, an interactive walkthrough where you can interact with objects around the warehouse. All while Roger tries to save Baby Herman.
We get to the end of the street, where the Tower of Terror would have been located. We have the Maroon Studios, where Roger Rabbit works. Small buildings would act as sound stages, one would contain Silly Symphony Stage 1, a musical playground where young guests can interact with musical instruments. Across from that, we have Baby Herman’s Buggy Whirl. The ride would be a simple teacup flat ride, but the cars would be shaped like buggies. At the end of the Maroon Studios parkway would be the main attraction of the land. Guests would enter the main office, with the queue consisting of film sets currently on air. They get to the pre-show, where it’s revealed that the weasels have kidnapped Valiant and Jessica, and are gonna “wack them” soon. Roger leads guests towards an exit, but a complication would happen and he’d let a firecracker off. Roger Rabbit: Blast Off! Would be an indoor launch coaster, where guests race around Hollywood and Toontown, dodging the weasels and Judge Doom. The ride would be a lot more tame than RnRc, and would have more thematic elements.
End
This was a really fun project to work on. I hope you enjoy reading about it just as much as I enjoyed making it. Please share your thoughts with me, I’d love to hear them and any constructive criticism.
I know I was gone for a while but I’m back, I just don’t know for how long cause my schedule is really tight. So recently I’ve been getting into ‘What If’ Scenarios, and I wanted to do one as a little experiment. Now when MGM Studios opened, they were planning a new expansion for the park (which became Sunset Boulevard), and one of these early concepts was for a Roger Rabbit themed land. Now the land had multiple rides and themed attractions planned but it ultimately got cancelled. This was mainly due to controversy between Amblin Entertainment and Disney over the rights to Roger Rabbit. This is why we never got a 2nd movie or land.
But what if we did get a Roger Rabbit themed land? What if Disney had the rights to Roger Rabbit secured and they were able to make the land and the cancelled sequel movie. And what if I designed a Roger Rabbit land utilizing the area for Sunset BLVD? What rides, attractions, and details could I bring to this cancelled land. That’s what I wanna do today.
Of course take this concept with a pinch of salt, I’m not an imagineer and have no experience in the theme park industry. I’m just an enjoyer of theme parks and I love making concepts for rides and attractions.
Original Concept
We don’t know how much about the original land, I doubt there is even any concept art of the land’s layout. There are some details we can look at though.
There was gonna be a red trolley going through the land, with a Maroon Studios building in the back of the land. Rumours also state that the land was going to be based off the toon town area.
Now focusing on the rides, there were about 3 lands planned. The first was a simulator attraction called “Toon Town Transit”. Where guests would board a sentient bus and travel through Toon Town, encountering Roger Rabbit on the way. The second was a dark ride themed to a Roger Rabbit short where riders would get into Baby Herman’s buggy and ride around a hospital. Later this concept would get abandoned and later become a concept for a ‘Benny the Cab’ centered dark ride (like the one we eventually got). The final ride was the biggest one yet, and we also have a sufficient model for it as well. The attraction would’ve been a roller coaster based off the Roger Rabbit coaster short. The ride looked like there would’ve been fake-outs and fake coaster track parts.
Concept
We looked at the original concept, now it’s my turn to make what I think a Roger Rabbit themed land would be.
Before we walk into this land, I have a special aspect I’d like to implement. Today, we’ve seen a sort of ‘quest’ focused game for themed lands. Such as the wands in Harry Potter or the wristbands at Nintendo Land. Now in my Blue-sky Concept for Hollywood Studios, I added one of these interactive games to Galaxy’s Edge. I wanted to add one too for Roger Rabbit, imagine the Ducktales game (or if you’re cool) the Phineas and Ferb game at Epcot, but with more interactives. Guests will be able to enter Valiant’s office, where they would be given a mystery, to track down any remnants of the “Dip” formula. Guests will be able to go around the land (with Roger) and solve this mystery once and for all.
The land would start off similar to Sunset BLVD, with retail stores would layer the street. Where the Cathay Circle store is currently, we’d get the Ink & Paint Club, the fictional club we saw in the movie. A small alleyway would allow guests to see Jessica playing Patty Cake with the owner of ACME warehouse (I feel like people are only gonna get it if they watch the movie).
Walking past it we see the tunnel leading to Toon Town. Now this version of Toon Town would be a smaller mini-land of sorts. When we first walk in, we see Mickey’s House in Toon Town. It made sense to add some sort of Meet-and-Greet opportunity in the land, and don’t worry Roger will also get one. We also have Roger Rabbit’s Home. A walkthrough attraction ending with a meet-and-greet with the Rabbit himself. Walking past that, we enter the main downtown section of Toon Town. Stores would be themed to famous cartoon characters, and a small play place like in Disneyland’s Toontown Firestation would preside here as well. Into the land, we have The Green Tophat, a quick-service restaurant and play on the Brown Derby. Where you can see pictures and props from famous cartoon characters. This is also where we get our first ride of the land, Toon Town Transit. Very similar to the original pitch for the ride. Guests would board a Bus Tour around Toon Town, until it gets hijacked. Like Star Tours, this section would be randomized. Either your bus gets hijacked by the Weasel gang or it gets hijacked by Roger himself. With the objective/goal of the hijackers being randomized. Such as the weasels fighting Roger Rabbit over a large amount of cash, or Roger running from the police or something like that.
The Toon Town section ends when we emerge from a comically large portable-porthole, like the one Roger Rabbit uses at the end of Car-toon Spin. Let’s rewind for a second and go back, right before we entered Toon Town. Walking down the main section, we see small details from the movie, such as Valiant P.I. sign with a Rabbit shaped hole in the glass. Also on the street, we’d see a truck owned by the weasels, with Benny’s voice being heard from inside. Where Sunset BLVD’s quick-service would’ve been is Benny’s Cab Catering, a quick-service restaurant themed to Benny’s Cab Company. Speaking of him, our next ride is well based on him. Benny’s Quick-time Pursuit would be similar to the Roger Rabbit ride we did get in our world. With a similar story and thematic elements. Along with everybody’s favorite part of the ride, the queue section!
As we walk further down the land, we see a small food stall called Baby Herman’s Cookie Jar, selling freshly baked cookies (but knowing theme park food, is it really fresh?). Near the end of the road, we get the ACME Warehouse building. Roger Rabbit in: ACME Mayhem, an interactive walkthrough where you can interact with objects around the warehouse. All while Roger tries to save Baby Herman.
We get to the end of the street, where the Tower of Terror would have been located. We have the Maroon Studios, where Roger Rabbit works. Small buildings would act as sound stages, one would contain Silly Symphony Stage 1, a musical playground where young guests can interact with musical instruments. Across from that, we have Baby Herman’s Buggy Whirl. The ride would be a simple teacup flat ride, but the cars would be shaped like buggies. At the end of the Maroon Studios parkway would be the main attraction of the land. Guests would enter the main office, with the queue consisting of film sets currently on air. They get to the pre-show, where it’s revealed that the weasels have kidnapped Valiant and Jessica, and are gonna “wack them” soon. Roger leads guests towards an exit, but a complication would happen and he’d let a firecracker off. Roger Rabbit: Blast Off! Would be an indoor launch coaster, where guests race around Hollywood and Toontown, dodging the weasels and Judge Doom. The ride would be a lot more tame than RnRc, and would have more thematic elements.
End
This was a really fun project to work on. I hope you enjoy reading about it just as much as I enjoyed making it. Please share your thoughts with me, I’d love to hear them and any constructive criticism.