Yet another go at the Mickey ride at WDW's Magic Kingdom (feedback wanted)

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the past, I've done several threads on a dark ride with Mickey and friends at WDW's Magic Kingdom, going into Storybook Circus and based on an old concept for a ride called Mickey's Mad House, set in what would have been Dumbo's Circusland at Disneyland. Here are but two sample threads on the subject: 1) https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/three-mickey-rides-which-one-is-the-best.940296/; and 2) https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/some-unfinished-business-in-fantasyland.954370/.

However, in the meantime, a real Mickey ride has obviously opened: Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway at the Studios, which includes a scene in my Mickey ride concept: a twister scene where everyone gets caught up in a twister. I was going to have that in my ride, as a climax of sorts, but now I can't do that anymore. As it is, I'm concerned that my concept would be cannibalizing the actual Mickey ride, even though my concept will be themed to the classic cartoons, not the Paul Rudish shorts that Runaway Railway is based on.

My idea was to do vignettes of old cartoons, as with the original Mad House concept, although not as a roller coaster, but more of a wild dark ride (like Mr. Toad or Roger Rabbit). However, with so little information to go on for reference, it was suggested that I should scrap the cartoons aspect and just do something new from scratch, especially since I was told that the ride through cartoons seemed less fitting in a circus setting and would be better suited for Toontown (which WDW obviously no longer has).

But then I got a look at a video of a level of "Cuphead" (based around old cartoons like those from Fleischer and, yes, Disney). The level in question is set in a funhouse (it's called "Funhouse Frazzle"):


I don't really see anything overtly circus-related in this funhouse, so I thought the old concept could be brought back.

The concept is that Mickey is doubling as funhouse proprietor and magician. The story could extend to the Town Square Theater on Main Street, connecting to Storybook Circus by way of the WDW Railroad. I'm trying to somehow bring the magic show and funhouse together, at least as an initial plot device, if nothing else. I'm also trying to involve Donald Duck with a seal act for the show (based on "Mickey's Circus"). Presumably, Donald would be looking for a baby seal (possibly Salty) who has strayed off. How could the seal and magic show cause some chaos for the funhouse? Any ideas?
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Oh, I just realized I had created another thread on the matter: https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...wonders-feedback-and-critiques-wanted.961383/. It still needs some tweaking, to avoid cannibalizing the Runaway Railway ride at the Studios. For example, the twister in my ride will not be featured, as it's now featured in the Runaway Railway.

The "Mickey's Follies" room will be modified as a literal "fun house" with the animals dancing around. The room itself looks like Mickey's house from "Mickey's Orphans" (as seen in the Timeless River level of "KH2"):
dbj0ekq-06965d85-6f74-4f62-8a0e-6353ddf74749.jpg


The music, which is heard on the radio, will be the lively jazz number from "Thru the Mirror" (I forget what it's called, though), and the barnyard animals are dancing as they do in "The Whoopee Party":



The animal room is the same. In fact, everything is the same up until you reach the Inanimate room, which is similar to the "Mickey's House" room, except now it's inanimate objects come to life and everything is giant-sized (Mickey and friends and the guests have shrunken). It could be the equivalent of the old "oversized room" from the old Alice ride, which has recently been recreated (go to 0:54):



Also, from looking at this map of the mockup of the ride's layout...
storybook%2Bcircus%2Bmap.jpg

...it appears that I can probably fit one more scene in, for a total of 9.

I was thinking of an extra scene resembling a garage with two cars and a plane in it. More on that later.

The other alteration is there will be no twister, as that's over at the Runaway Railway now. Instead, the room dims slightly, except for a purple swirl which resembles this part of the remake of Castle of Illusion, which is set inside a magic hat:


This is basically just the barebones of it. What do you think? How did you like my idea for the climax to replace the twister?
 
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MickeyMouse10

Well-Known Member
It would be great if the ride could celebrate not only Mickey, but Walt as well. This way it's a perfect figurehead attraction for both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom.

It could start with a black and white setting with Steamboat Willie and then progress to modern times. With different interpretations and cartoons of Mickey along the way.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It would be great if the ride could celebrate not only Mickey, but Walt as well. This way it's a perfect figurehead attraction for both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom.

It could start with a black and white setting with Steamboat Willie and then progress to modern times. With different interpretations and cartoons of Mickey along the way.

That kind of thing might work better in Toontown, though. But WDW has no Toontown anymore, and the one in Disneyland is too small and getting its own Mickey ride besides (Runaway Railway).
 

MickeyMouse10

Well-Known Member
That kind of thing might work better in Toontown, though. But WDW has no Toontown anymore, and the one in Disneyland is too small and getting its own Mickey ride besides (Runaway Railway).

Crazy idea, but maybe it could be on Main Street. It would be a great introduction to the park and on a street based off of Walt's actual hometown.
 

Brer Oswald

Well-Known Member
I really like it. I don't think you have to replace a potential twister scene, as the one in Runaway Railway looks like a pathetic afterthought.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I really like it. I don't think you have to replace a potential twister scene, as the one in Runaway Railway looks like a pathetic afterthought.
Pathetic afterthought or not, it's already taken, and I don't want to cannibalize the ride any more than necessary. I'm a little concerned as it is because this is also about Mickey Mouse, albeit the classic cartoons and not the 2010s series.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
They could put it in the place where they were going to build the now defunct theater. Right behind the front buildings in Magic Kingdom.
Well, I had seriously considered that as a potential spot, but based on @MANEATINGWREATH's concept as an extension of the Town Square Theater where you meet Mickey as a magician. I had ran a poll and the Storybook Circus concept got more votes than the Main Street one.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
To continue on with my car/plane garage idea...

It features two cars on elevated platforms, resembling the "Mickey's Service Station" section of "Epic Mickey 2":


One car resembles Pete's car from this cartoon and the other is Donald's car from "Donald's Tire Trouble". Further on is the plane from "The Mail Pilot" with its propeller spinning, and in the air, the classic car-turned-plane from "Plane Crazy", flying around like crazy and blowing you into the next room.

On the walls are various car and plane parts and tools, including tires and propellers, which spin crazily. Also of note are some license plates hanging on the walls, twelve in all. They are derivative of the license plates in the queue for Roger Rabbit at Disneyland, whose jumbles of letters and numbers form the meanings of various Disney things.

In fact, at least three of them are the exact same as in Roger Rabbit:

CAP 10 HK (Captain Hook)
L MERM8 (Little Mermaid)
101 DALMN (101 Dalmatians)

Other license plate combinations will include:

1E D PU (Winnie the Pooh)
RSQRS (The Rescuers)
0 2 HERO (Zero To Hero)
MAD HAT R (Mad Hatter)
ANA N LSA (Anna and Elsa)
CASEY JR (Casey Jr.)

What do you think? And that's only nine plates total. Can anyone maybe try and come up with a few more? They cannot be more than seven characters (letters/numbers) long.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
To be honest, I think having a ride like this with Runaway Railway already existing would be redundant.

Which is why I had tried to differentiate between the two as much as possible. I removed the tornado scene. I made it a traditional dark ride. I tried to make it more akin to Mr. Toad or Roger Rabbit. Above all, I themed this to the classic cartoons, not the 2010s series.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What's more, Runaway Railway seems to go at a relatively slow pace. The pace for my ride will be a bit faster (but not too much faster). Like I said, I wanted this to be the equivalent of Mr. Toad or Roger Rabbit as the kind of ride that's fun and crazy.

There will also be a lot of pitching (like the Indiana Jones ride or Dinosaur, but less rough) and spinning (kind of like the Cat in the Hat ride or the Mario Kart ride at the Universal parks). Also, I'm told that Runaway Railway has the most hidden Mickeys in any park ride. Well, maybe this ride will have even more hidden Mickeys.

Also, I'm thinking of bringing back the "Mickey's Follies" barn for the first scene.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
RR seems to be a missed opportunity. I encourage more ideas for Mickey Mouse attractions.
The biggest concern of mine is that this newer Mickey Mouse series may become real dated real fast. They have stopped producing the cartoons on TV (since 2019), and I don't even know when/if they're going to do "The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse" again. I hope they do, or people will be confused as to what this version of Mickey is supposed to be.

It may end up being like with Gadget's Go Coaster. People in the '90s may have known the reference, but how many know the reference now? Granted, "Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers" is on Disney Plus (as far as I know), and I believe they made an appearance on the newer "Duck Tales" series, but even that doesn't last forever, nor does everyone get Disney Plus.
 

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