Paying homage to Mr. Toad at Magic Kingdom

[Walt Disney1955]

After being at MK this past week I noticed some things I have never seen before. There are at least two nods towards Mr. Toad. For those that do not remember Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was an original ride at MK in 1971 and was replaced in 1999 by Winnie the Pooh. There is still Mr. Toad at Disneyland however.

But I noticed in the Pooh ride that Mr. Toad is the one giving the deed of the house to Owl in that picture. Not sure how many normal people going through that ride would even know that significance. Also at the exit of Haunted Mansion there is a pet sematary. I went to HM at night and apparently there is a tombstone dedicated to Mr. Toad. It was dark but if I am correct I believe that he was in the top left part of the sematary.

Are there any other nods towards him?

 

[marni1971]

Only geeks would know where to look in Pooh, and yes, there is a Toad in the HM Pet Cemetary.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Aren't there two references in Pooh? The one with Toad handing over the deed, and another...I want to say one of the other characters, Mole or Rat, is seen "moving out" to make room for a Pooh character, like Rabbit. Maybe I'm imagining that one?

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Slightly along the same lines...if you look in the right place in Disneyland's Pooh, you can see the mounted heads from CBJ, which got evicted for Pooh on the West Coast.

 

[Walt Disney1955]

Only geeks would know where to look in Pooh, and yes, there is a Toad in the HM Pet Cemetary.

hey now.......lol, I still love Mr. Toad's Wild Ride over Pooh

 

[Rob562]

The Toad statue in the pet cemetery is relatively new, within the past few years. (I've heard a couple stories about why it was added, but haven't gotten any kind of confirmation on them)

The statue itself was the one that used to be above the entrance on the outside of the attraction.

-Rob

 

[BrerFrog]

Those are the only Mr. Toad references I know of.

 

[ABigBrassBand]

The Toad statue I didn't know about til' last week, but I knew about the picture a long time ago, while riding.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

3 references are for Mr. Toad

Haunted Mansions Pet Cemetary A statue sits way in the back to the left


And the other 2 reside in Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
Just as you enter owls house on the left side on wall sits the picture of Toad giving the deed of Toad hall to Owl..


And the Second one you have to lean over to the right side and look at the floor of pictures one had Mole with Pooh bear..

 

[Animaniac93-98]

The statue itself was the one that used to be above the entrance on the outside of the attraction.

-Rob

I don't believe this as they are different poses.

It looks more like the Mr. Toad "big figure" sold a few years back spray painted.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

And the Second one you have to lean over to the right side and look at the floor of pictures one had Mole with Pooh bear..

The way I've heard this one explained is Mole "clearing out" to let Pooh move in. The way he's bowing and doffing his hat seems to support that.

 

[George]

The way I've heard this one explained is Mole "clearing out" to let Pooh move in. The way he's bowing and doffing his hat seems to support that.

I've heard that too. Thanks to Cmdr_Crimson I now know where too look and I've seen it.

 

[Walt Disney1955]

The Toad statue in the pet cemetery is relatively new, within the past few years. (I've heard a couple stories about why it was added, but haven't gotten any kind of confirmation on them)

The statue itself was the one that used to be above the entrance on the outside of the attraction.

-Rob

Would it be like the other poster said: "here lies Mr. Toad and that's not remarkable, Winnie the Pooh was far more marketable"?

Doesn't seem like a big secret to me at all. It is typical of Disney to do this since all of the hidden mickeys are scattered all over the place. But what are the reasons you heard that he is there?

My thought would be that he is an animal who is, well, dead in a way, at least in the park

 

[Rob562]

Would it be like the other poster said: "here lies Mr. Toad and that's not remarkable, Winnie the Pooh was far more marketable"?

Doesn't seem like a big secret to me at all. It is typical of Disney to do this since all of the hidden mickeys are scattered all over the place. But what are the reasons you heard that he is there?

My thought would be that he is an animal who is, well, dead in a way, at least in the park

The story, as I heard it, was that the grounds crew accidentally broke the original statue that had been in that spot in the cemetery (or a tree limb fell on it and broke it).
Rather than try and patch it together or re-cast a new one, Imagineering/Central Shops decided to add the inside-joke/tribute and took the old Toad statue, painted it to look like rusted copper, and stuck it up there.

But like I said, I haven't been able to verify this story.


EDIT: As Animaniac mentioned, it apparently *is* one of the Big Figs of Toad. The pose isn't correct from the original statue.

Original statue can be seen here:

The Toad Big Fig (complete with the stone base):

Of course, the story I heard could still be correct on the "why" it was placed there...

-Rob

 

[jtizzle1023]

you can see mr. toads statue from the ride in the back of the pet cemetery @ the haunted mansion in WDW

 

[Walt Disney1955]

you can see mr. toads statue from the ride in the back of the pet cemetery @ the haunted mansion in WDW

you can see it FROM the ride? Do you mean from inside the ride or walking along the exit way on the way out like we were talking about? I can't imagine seeing it inside the ride