Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway - Disneyland

[lazyboy97o]

That's kind of why I was asking - I wasn't sure that a game of telephone wasn't happening with the info from the permit, since I haven't seen it. Permits don't use stories as height, but people sure do. The suggestion that offices might be placed on top of the Runaway Railway building could imply perhaps a 40' tall building to accomodate both the ride and the office level, which would be very tall against the Toontown Skyline. Not to mention that one that tall AND this wide would be monumental. Are they really going that big with this?

The building is already something like 45’ tall and is really what you need for the ride. About 20’ for show scenes, 10’ for catwalks and 10’ for long span trusses. I would be incredibly surprised if they built the offices on top on the ride area because those already large and expensive trusses would have to get even deeper (increasing overall height).

Looking up the latest aerials you can see a second floor deck on one end of the building, although it the area seems smaller than one would probably expect.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

The building is already something like 45’ tall and is really what you need for the ride. About 20’ for show scenes, 10’ for catwalks and 10’ for long span trusses. I would be incredibly surprised if they built the offices on top on the ride area because those already large and expensive trusses would have to get even deeper (increasing overall height).

Looking up the latest aerials you can see a second floor deck on one end of the building, although it the area seems smaller than one would probably expect.

Is it that tall? It's hard to tell from the aerials . . . Dang. They better do some real work to make that thing look beautiful from Toontown. The concept art shows rolling hills, but who knows. I'll never forgive them if they "Cosmic Rewind" it. Toontown has problems but the skyline (when well maintained) isn't one of them.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Is it that tall? It's hard to tell from the aerials . . . Dang. They better do some real work to make that thing look beautiful from Toontown. The concept art shows rolling hills, but who knows. I'll never forgive them if they "Cosmic Rewind" it. Toontown has problems but the skyline (when well maintained) isn't one of them.

Not from the aerials. Ken Potruck had an Instagram post earlier in the year when vertical construction started where it was easy to compare the height to construction workers.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I think is odd that Mickey is basically what made Disney, they sell Mickey ear headbands by the millions, and yet toon town is always the worst part of any park that has it. Youd think theyd really go big with a major Toontown area but theyre always mediocre. MMRR will take DL toontown to another level, Im all for it.

It really doesn't translate well from the Roger Rabbit movie aesthetic to real life, although the area around Roger Rabbit ride is good. They took what was basically 1940s noirish cartoon alleys and saved it for the ride while making the outside rather Disneyfied. It's half Warner Brother-esque and half Michael Eisner Presents.

 

[180º]

@yensidtlaw1969 ,the footprint of the site looks juuuust big enough to contain a longer/narrow MMRR, some queue, and a couple of rehearsal halls, which are the facilities that still need replacing after the demolition. Beyond that, I’m sure they could squeeze in some offices above the halls or the queue. Not sure if they’re still needed though.

 

[J4546]

Im kinda bummed they arent gonna expand the park north and move the team aneheim building/other buildings off site. But this MMRR looks like a great addition to DL and esp ToonTown. Though I kinda wish they would have postponed this ride, taken the budget for it and used it to complete tron and other epcot projects instead

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Not from the aerials. Ken Potruck had an Instagram post earlier in the year when vertical construction started where it was easy to compare the height to construction workers.

Oh I trust you, that's just why I hadn't gathered how tall it was until now. I've only seen aerials.


I'm decently curious to see how this version of the attraction turns out. I happened to be there on Opening Day at WDW, and while I liked it and rode a few times I don't really think it's much to write home about. Wouldn't be my first choice for Toontown - or even Disneyland, for that matter. Feels more DCA to me for some reason.

I hope in changing the layout they take the opportunity to get rid of some of the seams - seeing so many of the sets end right at the ceiling drags the attraction down. Though I don't suspect they're cloning it immediately because they're *too* disappointed with the Florida product.

I'd put DL's Roger Rabbit over WDW's Runaway Railway any day. I'd love to see them top Roger with Railway at DL, but it would take some commitment.

 

[Disney Analyst]

There are some pieces, the number having been reduced, and they don’t sell as well. Most merchandise is older designs. If the new look is as popular as you claim then why do people prefer old designs when they buy merchandise?

Stories as a a height is not really a thing and would not be classified on a permit. The building is taller than the 30’ height which many would consider about 3 stories but not really taller than what is needed for a show space. Having an area for backstage functions makes the most sense for logistics and cost. A number of different uses could also take advantage of a greater ceiling height, particularly on the ground floor.

I know nothing of Merch sales. But I do see all the new 2021 Merch features the new designs

 

[MisterPenguin]

Jumping into this thread, my instinct previously had been to be confused by the size of the DL Runaway Railway building - so I busted out Google Earth and Photoshop, and now I'm downright PERPLEXED.

In Blue is the WDW Runaway Railway building, including the Chinese Theatre, laid out to scale over the DL Toontown site. The Red Rectangle is the approximate plot of the building they're constructing. HUH???:

View attachment 521689

Are they secretly building TWO of these?? They couldn't possibly be using the whole building for Runaway Railway. The WDW building is slightly wider than the new DL building, but for the DL building to be SOOOO much longer makes no practical sense for the ride. Unless it's magically gonna be, like, twice as long as the original, which, come on.

Weren't there originally offices on that site? Perhaps half of this building will be used to house new ones. I could see the layout being squeezed down to take up half of the new building with the rest of it being used for new offices.

Are you blocking me?

As I've posted before, Anaheim's is going to have to have some structural differences because their building is narrower (and longer). That doesn't necessarily mean new or plussed scenes.... just laid out differently.

Also, a bigger building doesn't mean a bigger ride. Portions of the building can be used for other backstage purposes.

So, could Anaheim's be bigger and better? Sure. Do we know that's the case? Not at all.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

Sure, that’s why old Mickey is being used for MMRR. And that’s why when it was time to churn out new cartoons for Disney+, they realized the Ren Mickey was an awful YouTube mistake that nobody likes and they’re reverting back to classic Mickey.

Facts, all facts.

People like the content of the new cartoons not the designs. if you were to poll people on which design they like, the previous well known designs would win out overwhelmingly

Jumping into this thread, my instinct previously had been to be confused by the size of the DL Runaway Railway building - so I busted out Google Earth and Photoshop, and now I'm downright PERPLEXED.

In Blue is the WDW Runaway Railway building, including the Chinese Theatre, laid out to scale over the DL Toontown site. The Red Rectangle is the approximate plot of the building they're constructing. HUH???:

View attachment 521689

Are they secretly building TWO of these?? They couldn't possibly be using the whole building for Runaway Railway. The WDW building is slightly wider than the new DL building, but for the DL building to be SOOOO much longer makes no practical sense for the ride. Unless it's magically gonna be, like, twice as long as the original, which, come on.

Weren't there originally offices on that site? Perhaps half of this building will be used to house new ones. I could see the layout being squeezed down to take up half of the new building with the rest of it being used for new offices.

I think it is way too early to be comparing sizes. we need more inside info as it develops on how they plan to adapt the ride to ToonTown before we can make any educated guesses. Who knows, they maybe doing a 2 story thing like they did for Rise for all we know.

 

[MisterPenguin]

if you were to poll people

...you'd have real data and not people presupposing everyone likes/hates what one likes/hate, and thus, a meaningful conversation rather than blanket statements not likely to be true.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

...you'd have real data and not people presupposing everyone likes/hates what one likes/hate, and thus, a meaningful conversation rather than blanket statements not likely to be true.

My statements are very true

 

[MisterPenguin]

My statements are very true

Indeed. I was just cluing everyone in on how true they were!

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

People like the content of the new cartoons not the designs. if you were to poll people on which design they like, the previous well known designs would win out overwhelmingly

I think it is way too early to be comparing sizes. we need more inside info as it develops on how they plan to adapt the ride to ToonTown before we can make any educated guesses. Who knows, they maybe doing a 2 story thing like they did for Rise for all we know.

I like the new designs as much as I like classic Mickey. Goofy, not so much though.

 

[Disney Analyst]

They do use a decent amount of outdoor space in Florida for extended queue. Obviously ToonTown has no way to allow for that, so I assume the indoor queue will need to be significant enough to handle all overflow.

 

[J4546]

thats true, there will probably be a huge indoor que, could be really rad!

 

[Disney Analyst]

thats true, there will probably be a huge indoor que, could be really rad!

Id also assume they’d like to keep the ride operational during fireworks, but unsure how they’ll work that out with guests exiting the attraction....

 

[mickEblu]

Id also assume they’d like to keep the ride operational during fireworks, but unsure how they’ll work that out with guests exiting the attraction....

I’ve said this before but they could potentially just close Toontown with MMRR indoors queue full of guests and allow those guest to cycle through the attraction while the fireworks going on. Maybe they can build some exit out of MMRR/ Toontown into either Fantasyland or Galaxies Edge that’s outside of the fallout zone. It could either be themed or something like the Main Street side alley they use when the parks are slammed.

Or they limit fireworks which we already saw them doing last year.

Or they don’t care at all because DLR is packed with attractions that they can afford to close MMRR during fireworks

 

[waltography]

Or they don’t care at all because DLR is packed with attractions that they can afford to close MMRR during fireworks

This is my best guess too. It's not like DL even blinks when they close down Fantasyland and Toontown anyway - with MMRR being a powerful enough draw to the back of the park they might finally let Toontown stay open past the fireworks more regularly, which would be nice.

 

[chadwpalm]

Jumping into this thread, my instinct previously had been to be confused by the size of the DL Runaway Railway building - so I busted out Google Earth and Photoshop, and now I'm downright PERPLEXED.

In Blue is the WDW Runaway Railway building, including the Chinese Theatre, laid out to scale over the DL Toontown site. The Red Rectangle is the approximate plot of the building they're constructing. HUH???:

View attachment 521689

Are they secretly building TWO of these?? They couldn't possibly be using the whole building for Runaway Railway. The WDW building is slightly wider than the new DL building, but for the DL building to be SOOOO much longer makes no practical sense for the ride. Unless it's magically gonna be, like, twice as long as the original, which, come on.

Weren't there originally offices on that site? Perhaps half of this building will be used to house new ones. I could see the layout being squeezed down to take up half of the new building with the rest of it being used for new offices.

You cut the maintenance bays out of your photo. Those will have to be factored in as well.