Disneyland's Toontown - 30th Anniversary

Today we have yet another "anniversary" post.  My other anniversary posts from earlier this year include, the 45th anniversary of The New Matterhorn, the 45th anniversary of Knott's Montezooma's Revenge, and the 40th anniversary of Knott's Camp Snoopy.

This year, Mickey's Toontown at Disneyland is celebrating it's 30th anniversary.  I have to admit that Toontown is my absolute least favorite "land."  With the exception of Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin (which didn't open until one year later), I have always considered the area a waste of very valuable real estate.  However, I had saved this Los Angeles Times article from when the land first opened, so I thought I would share it here, along with a few other souvenirs.

The article is dated January 21, 1993.  It mentions that the "Roger Rabbit ride" will be opening "this summer," but it didn't actually open until January of 1994.  Pictured below is the "Jolly Trolley" attraction, which closed after only 10 years of operation.

The article also mentions some of the other new "attractions," such as Goofy's Bounce House (which closed after 15 years), and Chip 'n Dale's Acorn Crawl (which closed after only 5 short years).  And the author talks about how Disney wasn't exactly breaking new ground here, since Knott's had built their children's area (Camp Snoopy), 10 years earlier.  It isn't mentioned, but Magic Mountain had a children's area (The Wizard's Village/Bugs Bunny World), even before that.  And Sea World had also opened their children's area (Cap'n Kids World), many years earlier.

The Motor Boat Cruise, Mission to Mars, and the Fantasyland Autopia, all received shout-outs in the article, but unfortunately it was because they were all being closed for good.  The reason given was, to relocate the employees on those attractions to Toontown, in order to "minimize additional operating costs" for the park.  Sad!

I think I have only ever bought one "Toontown" related souvenir, at the park itself, and that was the pinback button at the top of this post.  However, I did buy a can of Coke at my local grocery store, which commemorated the opening of the new land.

I made a huge mistake by not opening the can and draining the contents, prior to storing it away on a top kitchen shelf for years.  I had forgotten the urban legend, about how if you drop a nail into a glass of Coke, it will eventually dissolve it. Well, the contents of this can eventually ate a hole through the side of it, and leaked all over that top shelf.  I did not realize this had happened, until many years later, so there was a thick sticky mess to clean up, once it was discovered.  Coke actually contains "phosphoric acid," which etches the enamel on our teeth, and makes them more porous, so I'm assuming that was the specific ingredient responsible for eating through the can.

I did a search on ebay, and was surprised to see these other Toontown-themed cans were also available.  I don't remember seeing these in the grocery store, back in the day.  This first one is a Diet Coke can, which featured Roger Rabbit.

This can of Sprite, featured Donald and his boat.

And this last design, featuring Goofy and his "Bounce House," was on cans of Diet Sprite.

This final item is not from Disneyland in Anaheim, but from Tokyo Disneyland.  I bought this during a visit to the Disney parks in Japan.  They sell a series of miniature attraction vehicles, which are just about the size of a Match Box® vehicle.  I should have put a coin next to the vehicle, to show just how small it is!

The box lists the scale as 1/77.

The manufacturer of the "Disney Vehicle Collection," is Tomy®.  The sticker on the box shows a price of 750 yen, which at today's rate of exchange, would be about $5.00 in U.S. currency.  I'm guessing if they sold these in the U.S. parks, they would charge more than that.  I never found the price of food, souvenirs, or even admission at the Tokyo Disney parks, to be as inflated as they are in the U.S. Disney parks.  But then Disney does not own those two parks.  They are owned by a Japanese company, the Oriental Land Company.

I'm not completely sure, but I think the little "universal symbol" on the far left means, "Do Not Feed This To Pac-Man, Or He Will Cry."

And speaking of Tokyo's Toontown, if anyone is interested in seeing how the Japanese decorate Tokyo Disneyland's Toontown for Halloween and Christmas, you can click below, for some of my older posts.

Halloween in Tokyo Disneyland's Toontown

More Halloween in Tokyo Disneyland's Toontown

Christmas in Tokyo Disneyland's Toontown 

Happy anniversary, to Mickey's Toontown at Disneyland.  While I have never cared for the land very much, at least Disney finally decided to add another attraction (Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway) to the area, just this year.  It's too bad it took them 30 years to do it!  Oh, and when I finally saw Toontown for the very first time (one year later, in January of 1994), I took quite a few photos.  I will be including those in a 30-year "Vintage Disneyland Trip Report," this January.  So stay tuned......or "toon-ed," if you will.

****Post Update - 10-27-23****

I just found a few more Toontown-related items, in my personal collection!

This first one is a "game piece" from a contest.  These were given out when you had your film developed at Thrifty drugstores.  They were included inside the film processing envelopes, when you returned to pick up your photos.  The contest was also sponsored by Kodak.

These were "sealed," so you had to "tear open" that center square, to reveal the game piece inside.  Then, you had to match the character and the color of the Castle, with the image that was displayed on the counter of the Thrifty photo processing department.

The rules were printed on the back, along with a list of the prizes.  The top prize was a trip for four to Disneyland.

Another one of the prizes, was this Craig 'N Co. Rock 'N Toontown CD.  I had to look up this performer, since I had never heard of Craig 'N Co.  His name is Craig Taubman, and it looks like he made multiple appearances on The Disney Channel, back in the nineties.

This is not my CD, but I found a few of them listed on ebay.  You can own a copy for as low as $5.95!  There was also an ebay listing for two "intact" Thrifty game pieces, for $24.99.

The other items I recently found, are these Toontown postcards.

Both postcards were stamped on the back, with a special postmark commemorating Disneyland's 40th anniversary.  On July 17, 1995, the U.S. Postal System set up a temporary station in the old Disneyland parking lot, and were stamping the special postmark onto any item with U.S. postage affixed to it.

I remember the postal workers were trying very hard to place the "N" in the word "Station" just barely onto the stamp, so that way most of the postmark would be on the actual item.  It looks like they completely missed with that first postcard, and just barely touched the stamp on this second one.

*****Post Update (April 2024)*****

I recently came across this color newspaper advertisement for Toontown, so I am adding it to this post.  It's from The Los Angeles Times, and while I don't have a specific date for the ad, I'm pretty sure it had to be from the earliest days or weeks following Toontown's opening, in January of 1993.

Easter on Main St. - 1995

Today we have a photo taken inside the Market House at Disneyland in April of 1995. In the background, we can see a variety of Easter merchandise on display. The Roger Rabbit figure on the floor next to the flower cart is wearing a furry pink bunny outfit and may be the same figure seen here in a Candy Palace window display one year later. This round-shaped room has since been converted into part of The Disneyana Shop, but for years it belonged to the Market House. Some of the Market House's "party line" phones were even located just at the entrance to this room.

Here is a photo of the room as it appears today (borrowed and used with permission from the blog, Vintage Disneyland Tickets.) 

 

 

At one time, this room was known as the "Birthday Cake Room." Check out Kevin Kidney's fascinating post on the history of this room here: The Birthday Cake Room

This next item is dedicated to Viewliner Ltd., who posts wonderful images from the past on his blog. I'm not sure if this was a postcard or a product insert. It is undated and the back is completely blank. It is just about the size of a postcard and it's printed on similar card stock. It appears to be quite old. 

 

Happy Easter, everyone!

Roger Rabbit "Hearts" Jessica Rabbit & Squeaker Postcard

In honor of Valentine's Day this weekend, we have a photo of Roger Rabbit all decked out in a tuxedo. He's holding a heart-shaped box of chocolates in one hand and a picture of his wife, Jessica Rabbit in the other. The wallpaper in the background even contains silhouettes of Jessica Rabbit and Baby Herman. This was a Main St. window display at Disneyland in February of 1996. The window was located next to The Candy Palace on Main Street and is the same window as this one that contained a paper sculpture of the Castle for Disneyland's 25th birthday in 1980. Sixteen years had passed since I took that first pic and I had now learned that if you are going use a flash to take a photo of something behind glass, you have to shoot it at an angle to avoid seeing the reflection of the flash!

I'm throwing this image in just because of it's heart-shaped background. This is one of my earliest Disneyland souvenirs from childhood. It's a "squeaker" postcard. These are called squeakers because they are extra thick with a little device located inside and when squeezed in the middle, they let out a "squeak." The pin hole at the top is there because as a kid, I had this pinned to a bulletin board in my bedroom.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!!

Christmas in Tokyo Toontown

It's Christmastime at Tokyo Disneyland! Last year we took a look at some of their Christmas decorations, but we never made it into Toontown. Today, we will venture into "The Land That Toons Built."

First up, we have a shot of the entrance.


Next, we have the Jolly Trolley with a big bow on the roof. Tokyo's Jolly Trolley attraction actually closed permanently in April of this year. :-(


This car is parked in a no parking zone. We know it's a no parking zone because of the three dimensional sign showing a red circle and a slash....with a miniature car literally hanging off the slash!

The previous three photos each have Halloween companion pics. For a seasonal comparison, click (here).

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All of the street lamps...and even this traffic signal, get decorated for Christmas.

Small seasonal touches are also added to the Roger Rabbit fountain in the downtown section of Toontown.

Wacky Christmas garland is hung over the streets.

Out in the residential district, Minnie's house gets decorated.....

....and Goofy has a Christmas tree made out of umbrellas on his front lawn.

Donald has a pretty large stocking hanging off the bow of his ship. His wish list for Santa includes a fishing pole, ice skates, model airplane, portable radio, diver's watch, movie camera, golf clubs, television, and a sports car. Oh, is that all?

Chip and Dale even get dressed up for the occasion!

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To see holiday decor from other areas of Tokyo Disneyland, click here: Christmas In Tokyo Disneyland. And here: Christmas On Main Street.

There Is Just One Moon and One Golden Sun......

The Small World unit of Tokyo Disneyland's Electrical Parade Dreamlights is made up of 4 large floats. The first float is the "Showboat", with Daisy, Donald and the Three Little Pigs riding on the top deck.

The second float is the "Airship", with Chip and Dale.

The next float is the "Moon" float, with Mary Poppins, Bert, Pinocchio, Gepetto and Jiminy Cricket.

And last, we have the "Sun" float, with Lilo, Stitch, Roger Rabbit and Pluto.

This is the last unit of the parade however, the sponsor of the parade actually gets it's very own float in the Tokyo version of the Electrical Parade and that float follows the Small World unit. Tomorrow, we will look at that float and the illumintated performers that carry the rope at the end of the parade, as well as take a look at a neat little effect that takes place during the parade for one brief "blink and you've missed it" moment. Then we will move on to other subjects and even other parks. We still have a whole second Disney park in Tokyo to look at....."Tokyo DisneySea!"