The chaotic Toontown of yesterday that looked like it had been designed by Roger Rabbit with a cartoon mallet and a stick of dynamite has been replaced with the family-friendly Toontown of today that looks like the result of a Minnie Mouse home improvement show.
Disneyland hosted a media preview of Mickey’s Toontown on Saturday, March 18, ahead of the grand reopening of the kid-centric land on Sunday, March 19 at the Anaheim theme park.
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During the preview, I viewed the renovated Mickey’s Toontown from the point of view of the intended audience: Grade school kids and their parents.
Saturday was a Chamber of Commerce day with temperatures in the mid-70s and perfect blue skies that made the colorfully refreshed land pop with extra vibrancy.
The first thing you notice when you walk into Mickey’s Toontown is the burst of color in every direction you look. Not the hot reds and pinks of Roger Rabbit’s Toontown, but the new cool greens, blues and purples picked out by Minnie Mouse’s home improvement team at Walt Disney Imagineering.
Fun is still at the forefront of Toontown’s mission statement — just without the cartoon intensity that Roger Rabbit has brought to the place since 1993. The overall vibe of Toontown 2023 is more subdued relaxation with an emphasis on calmness and decompression. Toontown of today is more about burning off energy rather than cranking up the pressure.
Kids swarmed the new land rebuilt just for them and their families. Tightrope walking along the sculpted Dreaming Tree roots like a balance beam. Splashing in the Centoonial Park fountain water play basins filled with spurting flowers, clamshells and cattails. Sliding on their bellies down the rainbow roller slides next to Fort Max. Teaming up to tackle games of skill and chance in Goofy’s House. Cranking the bilge pumps to make bubbles appear in the “flooding from the inside”…
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