Disney has officially begun work on bringing Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway to Disneyland, officials told the OC Register. The work officially began last night to bring the whimsical dark ride to the Toontown section of the park. Work is taking place backstage, and the ride will take over an expanded space behind Toontown that was previously used by entertainment. Initial work began on Thursday night and into Friday morning on the development of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
The Runaway Railway project will require Disneyland crews to remove a portion of the faux rolling green mountain range that forms the backdrop to Toontown and shields the themed land from the backstage areas of the Anaheim theme park.
An interesting part of the construction notes that a central portion of the Toontown mountains will be removed for a couple years while the work takes place, allowing Disneyland visitors to watch the construction unfold. Disneyland will not install a decorative scrim to shield the work as the park typically does with other major construction and refurbishment projects.
On the trackless dark ride, visitors will board a four-car train headed for a picnic with Mickey, Minnie and their dog Pluto. Naturally, like any Mickey Mouse cartoon, things quickly go awry. The ride travels through a carnival, a big city and a factory, with the trackless train cars splitting apart and reconnecting along the way.
The action takes place inside the El Capitoon Theater where the “Perfect Picnic” cartoon short is playing. Visitors entering the cinema will experience a special exhibit created by the Toontown Hysterical Society featuring costumes and props from the cartoon world.
Of course, you won’t have to wait until 2022 to ride Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway as an identical version of the ride will be opening Spring 2020 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com for continuing coverage of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and much more from around the Disney Parks!