The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (85 page)

The line will start on
Mickey
’s porch, outside his front door, and when it gets long switchbacks along his porch and yard.  In the early morning the queue is relatively short after the initial rush.

Guest stroll through
Mickey
’s house, the entryway with its narrow staircase, the living room, den, kitchen, laundry room, etc. taking in the comfortable arm chairs, cozy stone hearths, books, framed photos of beloved dog
Pluto
and sweetheart
Minnie
, and memorabilia of
Mickey
’s starring roles and Hollywood career.  From the football trophy to the piano to the globe to
Pluto
’s dog bed, so many homey touches have been lovingly built into this space to give it an authentic, lived-in feel.

The décor is pure 1920’s and 1930’s, including the big radio you’ll see early on your tour–again,
elements like this echo
Walt
’s early Hollywood years.  As always with
Disney
, the fun is not only in the big picture, but the little details; if it’s not too crowded when you visit, take time to peruse the book titles (e.g., “The Big Cheesy”), the memorabilia, and the names of the products in
Mickey
’s laundry room (“
Toonox
” instead of “Clorox”, “
Mouse N Glo
” instead of “Mop N Glo”).  There’s humor at every turn, and if you’re a local
Mickey
fan, the multitude of little touches reward repeat visits.

After leaving the house, you find yourself passing
Pluto
’s dog house and the little garden where the stealthy gophers run rampant, and then you’re in front of
Mickey’s Movie Barn
.  As mentioned above, it’s a nod to the barn
Walt
built on his
Holmby Hills
property, and jam-packed with funny props and signage and a very special mirror; take a moment to stare at your reflection and see what happens!

If you visit in the afternoon or on a crowded day, you might have a lengthy wait in the queue, but it’s worth it for you and your kids to meet
Mickey
on his home turf, and there’s plenty in the surroundings to entertain you.  In addition to expected items like klieg lights, cameras, and musical instruments, look for random props like a basket of potatoes, a birthday cake, a box of kazoos, and a one-man band.

The corridors of the barn wind in a rustic, cluttered maze toward your eventual destination, the
Screening Room
where
Mickey
greets his visitors.  While in line, keep your eyes peeled for clever in-jokes, like the broom that
Mickey
’s character brought to life with disastrous consequences in the
Sorcerer’s Apprentice
segment of 1940’s
Fantasia
, and a messy paint area with crazily tilting open paint cans, clearly the handy-work of that very impatient duck,
Donald
.

Finally meeting
Mickey
in the
Screening Room
is a thrill for
Mickey
fans young and old.  The ever-gracious mouse dispenses handshakes and hugs, signs autograph books, and poses for photos.  And beginning in 2010 and continuing into 2011, the
Imagineers
tested ways for
Mickey
to
talk
to Guests, interacting with them in real time!  This makes
Mickey
the first
talking
costumed
Disney
character, and
Minnie
soon followed!  So far the masks have been deployed in
DCA
, not
Disneyland
, but by your next visit to
Disneyland
, maybe
Mickey
will be able to converse with you and your little ones!

The
Disneyland Photographer
on duty in the
Screening Room
is happy to take a photo of your party and
Mickey
with one of your cameras, or will take a professional photo and digitally load it onto your
Disney PhotoPass
card in seconds.  Don’t have a
Disney PhotoPass
card?  The photographer will give you one.  Bring it to the
Main Street Photo Supply
Co.
before your trip ends to select the prints you want, or order them online at
www.DisneyPhotoPass.com
.
  Of course, some folks don’t give a hoot about autographs or photos; they just want to give
Mickey
a hug, and keep that moment in their memories forever.

Once your audience with the
main mouse has concluded, you’ll exit through his garage/tool shed, with its neatly secured wrenches, saw, tire iron, and first aid kit, and its neatly stacked cans of old paint.  A place for everything, and everything in its place.  As you return to the main residential square of
Mickey’s Toontown
, you’ll have a lot of happy images to reflect on. 
Did You Know?
  Even Guests that are
Mickey
fans don’t necessarily know his early history.  1928’s
Steamboat Willie
was the first
Mickey
cartoon to put
Mickey
on the map, but the first
Mickey
cartoon created was
Plane Crazy
.  So why all the fuss about
Steamboat Willie
?  Its release was a high watermark for cartoons because it had a soundtrack, and not only a soundtrack, but one perfectly, arduously synched to the action in the picture and actually fused to the film. 
Walt
was one of the few filmmakers who realized that new-fangled sound technology was here to stay, and not just some passing fad or stunt.  His visionary insight helped
Mickey
to make a strong impression from the outset.  Sound alone, however, can’t account for the rapid and enormous popularity of
Mickey Mouse
.  His positive, humorous, can-do spirit, a cartoon mirror of
Walt
’s, was endearing to Depression-era audiences who saw bits of themselves, and the American spirit, in the plucky little mouse. 
FastPass:
  No.  Touring
Mickey’s House
and meeting him in his
Movie Barn
are activities not linked to the park’s
FastPass
system.  To avoid long lines, your best bet is to visit
Mickey
in the early morning hours.  If that’s not possible, and you find yourself in a seemingly endless line, don’t despair; there’s plenty along the queue to capture your and your kids’ attention while waiting to meet
Mickey
.  For
Mickey
fans, the wait is worth it; an absolute must for those mad for the mouse.
Kid’s Eye View:
  I like the house.  It’s cute because it has what a real house would have, and you can meet
Mickey
.

Minnie’s House

[
FastView:
 
Explore
Minnie
’s adorable residence and then meet her at the backyard gazebo.  As at
Mickey
’s house next door, you can tour
Minnie
’s house without meeting her.
]

Minnie
’s is a charming little frothy pastel cupcake of a house just east of
Mickey
’s residence.  It’s a bungalow like
Mickey
’s, but on a smaller scale, and with a quintessentially feminine style.  Minnie’s iconic face and hair-bow grace her mailbox, and a low, pale-pink picket fence with hearts and flower-shaped details borders her front lawn.  The walls are pink, the trim violet, and the rounded pink and lavender shingles resemble the sugary candy dots that one finds sprinkled on fairy cake icing.

The overall effect is charming, not saccharine, and
Minnie
fans won’t be disappointed.  If you want to tour
Minnie’s House
and meet
Minnie
without waiting in a long queue, check her meet-and-greet schedule online or in that day’s
Entertainment Times Guide
(available at the
Main Turnstiles
) or on your
Disneyland
app, and arrive at
Toontown
as soon as the meet-and-greets commence.  After entering
Toontown
, bear left (west) toward the residential area of town to reach
Minnie
’s.

Unlike
Mickey
, who greets
Guests
at the end of their tour,
Minnie
often greets Guests on her front porch when they arrive, although at other times she’s waiting in her back yard.  When she’s waiting on her front porch, the queue to meet her winds through her yard and ends on the little porch, where
Minnie
will hug Guests or shake their hands, sign autograph books or any scrap of paper that a Guest has, and pose for photos.  Recently,
Imagineers
built a pretty gazebo for meet-and-greets in
Minnie
’s back yard, so that is usually where you will find her.

A
Disney Photographer
will take a photo with your camera, if you like, or will professionally photograph you and load the image onto your
Disney PhotoPass
.  The
PhotoPass
images can be viewed and prints purchased at the
Main Street Photo Supply Co.
, or online at
www.DisneyPhotoPass.com
.

Minnie
’s home, like
Mickey
’s, is constructed and decorated in the cozy California bungalow style.  Note the rich wooden floors, mantles, furniture, and photo frames, the pattern of leaves on the easy chair, and the brick and tile accents of the hearth in the front room.

Of course,
Minnie
’s house has a more finished, feminine feel, with touches like the elegant cream trim, frilly rose-and-white drapes and lamp shades, heart-shaped handles on the poker irons, and a heart-shaped antimacassar on the back of the living room easy chair.

There’s a wealth of detail to enjoy as you navigate the rooms, and
there are a lot of interactive features.  Don’t be afraid to touch, and let your little ones touch, the furnishings and fixtures.  Check out the titles on the magazines and books.  Sit in the armchair for a moment, or recline on the purple chaise lounge.  Pick up the receiver of
Minnie
’s phone, and listen to her answering machine messages.  Pause to look at your reflection in her heart-shaped mirror, behind the
toilѐt table
on which sit lovely yet cartoonish perfume atomizers of the sort of young starlet would used in the 1920’s or 1930’s.

Minnie
’s home is old-school, but there’s one modern touch young Guests will appreciate; her
boudoir
contains a computer, albeit housed in a pink case that resembles an old-time radio; Guests can check
Minnie
’s email messages.

Minnie
’s kitchen is the final room of the tour and a Guest favorite.  You and your children should feel free to explore everything in this room, from the old-fashioned canisters to the sink and appliances.

In the 1920’s and 1930’s, there was a revolution in the kitchen of the American woman.  Modern appliances, more pervasive indoor plumbing
, and a minimalist art-deco style were all making kitchen work faster, more efficient, and more pleasant.  As a successful young starlet,
Minnie
would certainly have access to these then-modern amenities.

Of course, the fixtures and appliances in
Minnie
’s kitchen have special cartoon twists.  Open the fridge and see what
Minnie
keeps on hand.  Turn on the oven to see what’s cooking (or, rather, what’s baking).  See what happens when you start the dishwasher.  It’s interactive joy!

You exit the kitchen into
Minnie
’s back yard, where there used to stand a pretty little wishing well reminiscent of the large
Snow White Wishing Well
in
Fantasyland
.  In 2012 the well was replaced by a gazebo for
Minnie
meet-and-greets.

But never fear–
Minnie
’s wishing well can still be found; now it’s on the east side of her home.  The “ornamental steel” that topped the former well is in place atop the new well.  Lighting, railings, rockwork, walkways, and other elements of
Minnie
’s property were reconifigured to improve Guests’ experience during walk-throughs and
Minnie
meet-and-greets.

Just as
Snow White
’s well holds the echo of her singing,
Minnie
’s well holds the echo of her voice.  The plaque near her original well (the plaque was not moved to the new well) explained it all:

Welcome to my backyard well

A secret wish you now must tell

My reply will echo clear

To all my friends so near and dear!

Love, Minnie

Pass by or speak into the well, and
Minnie
’s voice will be heard.  Toss a coin or two into the well along with your wish, and, just as with
Snow White’s Wishing Well
,
Disneyland
will see that the coins make their way to a children’s charity.

The
Imagineers
have been tremendously successful in crafting a beautiful little residence for America’s mouseheart.  Even Guests who aren’t die-hard
Minnie
fans should make time when this attraction isn’t too crowded to spend a few moments exploring its charming features. 
Did You Know?
 
Minnie
has been around as long as
Mickey
and they’ve always been sweethearts.  She appeared alongside him in
Plane Crazy
, the very first
Mickey
cartoon ever created, and in
Steamboat Willie
, the famous early
Mickey
cartoon that made him a star. 
Mickey
and
Minnie
never married, which is why they maintain separate
Toontown
residences; theirs is a venerable courtship. 
Walt
provided
Mickey
’s distinctive voice for many years, but other voice actors took over as
Walt
aged, first
Jimmy MacDonald
, and then
Glendale
native
Wayne Allwine
, who voiced
Mickey
for more than a quarter century, from 1976 until his recent death in May of 2009.  Artist and voice actor
Bret Iwan
is
Mickey
’s new voice.  A sweet sidebar:  In 1991
Allwine
married
Russi Taylor
, the official voice of
Minnie
since 1986.  In a case of life imitating art, the humans who gave voice and spirit to
Mickey
and
Minnie
were truly devoted sweethearts. 
Hidden Mickeys:
  Look for images of
Minnie
’s famous boyfriend throughout this attraction, from the stone wall outside to plates and cups on
Minnie
’s kitchen table.  For more
Hidden Mickeys
, read
Steven M. Barrett
’s
Disneyland’s Hidden Mickeys
. Does
Minnie
’s answering machine count as a
Hidden Mickey
?  Guests online at
www.hiddenmickeys.org
are divided.  When you visit
Minnie
’s house, you be the judge.
FastPass:
  No.  This self-guided tour and meet-and-greet attraction isn’t linked to the
FastPass
system.  Popular, but not as popular as
Mickey’s House
next door,
Minnie’s House
queues will be reasonably short if you arrive early in the morning or on an off-season day.  If it’s the house more than meeting
Minnie
that interests you, there are times when
Minnie
’s not around and the house is almost deserted; you can explore it then to your heart’s content without waiting at all. 
Kid’s Eye View:
  I like the house.  It’s fun to see everything, to listen to
Minnie
’s phone messages.

Roger Rabbit’s Car
Toon Spin
(FP)

[
FastView:
 
Take a trippy spin through an animated world (like
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
on steroids).  The immersive queue is one of the best in the park
.]

Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
is one of those rare instances at
Disneyland
when the queue might be more fun for some Guests than the attraction itself.

Disneyland
is known for its inventive, sometimes interactive queues, that switchback frequently to give Guests a continual sense of motion and entertain them while they wait, sometimes for more than an hour, to experience popular attractions.  However imaginative a queue is, though, it’s still easily surpassed by the charm or thrill of the attraction once Guests reach it.

Not so, perhaps, in the case of
Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
, where
Imagineers
outdid themselves in creativity.  As artists and engineers, they allowed free reign to their imaginations and crafted a long, labyrinthine interior queue that plunges Guests into the
‘toon
world of
Roger Rabbit
with plenty of visual and audio puns, gags, and music in a totally immersive environment.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
was an Osar-winning 1988 film that combined animation and live action with a virtuosity previously unseen in blended productions.  Animation and live action had been combined before, dating as far back as the old
Out of the Inkwell
series by Max Fleischer, and by
Walt
himself who, as a young animator in the 1920’s, developed the concept for the
Alice
series that placed a live actress in a cartoon landscape.

From time to time throughout its history,
Disney
films had combined live action and animation, most notably with feature films like
Song of the South
(1946) and
Mary Poppins
(1964), but never to this degree and this smoothly. Some
Disney
Imagineers
,
Animators,
and customer service experts still use the phrase
bump the lamp
as a call to arms to nail
every
last detail in a scene or Guest experience, no matter how insignificant it might seem.  The term came from the astoundingly dedicated work of the
Roger Rabbit
animators, who had to create frame-by-frame shadow movement in a scene where a character bumped a lamp and set it swinging.  The shadows substantially enhanced the realism of the blended live and animated worlds.

Located on the east, industrial side of
Mickey’s Toontown
,
Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
was a latecomer to the land, arriving in January of 1994, a year after
Toontown
opened.  It seemed to
Imagineers
that
Toontown
needed a strong,
E-ticket
dark ride as part of its roster. 
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
centered on interaction between human and
‘toon
characters and therefore seemed like a perfect foundation for an attraction in a land where humans were being invited into a previously hidden
‘toon
world.

As always,
Imagineers
didn’t want to repeat themselves by crafting just another dark ride, no matter how well they built it.  They wanted to do something new.  They knew that Guests were going to be immersed in the
‘toon world
of the
Roger Rabbit
film, and that had plenty of creative possibilities, but they wanted to take it to another level.  What about letting Guests
spin
their vehicles 360 degrees, making a silly ride even zanier?

A group of staffers that included
Imagineer Joe Lanzisero
went to
Disneyland
after hours and put one of the
Mad Tea Party
teacups (which allow Guests to spin) onto the track of
Pinocchio’s Daring Adventure
.  As
Lanzisero
relates on the DVD
Disneyland Resort:  Imagineering the Magic
, as they spun their way through the
Pinocchio
set pieces, they quickly realized that if they were to give
Car Toon Spin
riders 360-degree control of their vehicle, the environment would have to be interesting from
every
angle, and overall environments and effects would be more important than narrowly focused sets.

Imagineers
therefore developed an attraction that didn’t attempt to tell a literal point-by-point tale of
Roger Rabbit
, but instead plunged Guests into
Roger
’s wacky cartoon world, with the option to make their journey even giddier by spinning their goofy taxicab.

The result was one of
Toontown
’s most popular rides, so much so that it was added to the park’s roster of
FastPass
attractions.

Not everyone immediately associates
Roger Rabbit
with
Disney
. 
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
was released as a
Touchstone Picture
,
Touchstone
being the label
Disney
used to differentiate its more grown-up films from its G-rated child-and-family fare.

With a plot that, although comical, was rooted in film noir and set in 1947 Hollywood, and a heroine like
Jessica Rabbit
, voiced by throaty actress
Kathleen Turner
, at that time still a white-hot starlet know for her turns in 1981’s
Body Heat
, 1984’s
Romancing the Stone
, and 1985’s
Prizzi’s Honor
,
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
had the signature
Disney
quality, but was a distinctly PG product.

For
Toontown
’s dark ride,
Imagineers
toned down the PG elements that were either inappropriate for tiny ones (
Jessica
cheating on
Roge
r) or too complex for them (
Judge Doom
’s scheme to eliminate the
Red Cars
and build a freeway) and designed an adventure for the whole family.

Jessic
a
remains part of the journey, however; her unique silhouette (“I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way,”) appears as a shadow passing a window in the queue, and you hear her voice on the phone.

She also
appears in
Audio-Animatronic
form near the beginning of the
Car Toon Spin
, being kidnapped by a
Weasel
and put into a car trunk; near the end of the ride she turns the tables, smashing the villainous
Weasel
with a giant mallet.  In
Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
, as in the film,
Jessica
is voiced by
Kathleen Turner
.