In March 2023 Disneyland California opened the newly re-imagined Mickey’s Toon Town as part of its Disney 100 Celebrations. In this new animated area, Guests can play, relax, and explore together while enjoying new interactive experiences and old favorites including Mickey and Minnie’s very own houses. The classic rides of Roger Rabit’s Car Toon Spin and Chip n’ Dale’s Gadget Coaster are back for Guests to enjoy while the new Mickey and Minnies Runaway Railway allows families of all ages to travel into the wacky cartoon world of our favorite Mouse couple.
After a year-long wait for the much-loved classic area to re-open, expectations were high when Mickey’s Toon Town re-opened. But has the newly refurbished Toon Town lived up to expectations? Here is our full Mickey’s Toon Town Disney California review for 2023.
What is Mickey’s Toontown?
Mickey’s ToonTown has been at Disneyland since 1993. With its bright, colorful cartoon exteriors, it has always been the perfect area of the Park for families with young children. In 2019 Disneyland announced a refurbishment period for ToonTown, where the existing rides and attractions of GADGETcoaster, Goofy’s Play Yard, and Donald’s Duck Pond would be reimagined.
CenTOONial Park, Goofy’s Play Yard, and Donald Duck’s Pond are all areas in ToonTown where younger Guests can have fun, play in their own way, and choose to play together. This Land was designed with an environment that allows Kids to see, hear, feel, and interact with one another in many different ways. The Walt Disney Imagineers designed this area with kids’ play in mind, removing any barriers to play, creating lots of open green for kids to play and the land is curb-free to help guests with different abilities.
The General feel of the land is really cool. When you walk in the feeling of being inside a Cartoon is pretty strong. The tall facades of Rolling Hills blend perfectly with Los Angeles’s perfect Blue Skys to just make you feel you are in a cartoon. The Old Toontown was a little more than a few cute houses where you could Meet Mickey, Minnie, and Friends, but the re-imagining is next level. This feels like a real corner of Walt’s imagination and has really utilized his rules of never being able to see another part of the park.
It’s a really cool achievement and really helps celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Company.
While at first sight, the area does seem to be aimed at younger guests, Mickey’s ToonTown has both Mickey and Minnie’s Houses where you can meet the main mouse himself, therefore becoming a much-visited area by any Disney Guest who wants some one-on-one time with either Mickey Mouse. The Houses and the Meet and Greets were missed by Guests during the refurbishments and wait times for the Houses can reach ****
If that wasn’t enough of a reason for Disney Adults to visit the area, Disneyland has opened a new ride specifically designed to be fun for all ages: Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad. The ride has been designed specifically with no age/height restriction, so families can travel together, whatever their age or height.
Mickey and Minnie’s Houses
Ignoring the elephant in the room that Mickey and Minnie don’t actually live together despite being a couple for nearly 100 years (but then again, maybe the secret to their successful lengthy courtship is having separate houses?!), here in ToonTown you can visit the homes that each belong to the worlds most famous cartoon couple.
The self-guided tour leads you through each house which each reflects the personality and hobbies of its owner. Minnie’s house is decorated in soft pinks, lavender, and cream, with little hearts in the decor all throughout the house. The kitchen is clearly her favorite room in the house and she also has a wishing well in the back garden where you can make your very own wish.
Mickey’s house is just as brightly colored and is filled with mementos from his career including the Broomstick from Fantasia. There is even Plutos Dog House outside as well as Mickey’s Movie Barn where you can watch short screenings of cartoons and meet the main mouse himself! This is every Disney fan’s chance to interact, take photos, and hug the mouse that started it all.
Character Meet and Greets
As well as the Mickey Mouse meet and greets over at his house, there are many of their friends roaming around ToonTown for guests to meet, interact, and take photos with! For the first time ever at Disney Park, Mickey Mouse’s arch nemesis Pete makes an appearance. Be sure to keep an eye on the villain, he will be no doubt up to mischief!
Other Character Meet and Greets in ToonTown include:
- Minnie Mouse
- Donald Duck
- Daisy Duck
- Clarabelle
- Goofy
- Pluto
Depending on the popularity of the character, these wait times for the Meet and Greets can reach 60 minutes!
Rides
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway – Review
A relaxing train ride turns into a chaotic journey through different cartoon scenes on this newly opened dark ride. With no height restrictions this fun-for -all ride is super popular so wait times can get pretty high. Individual Lightning Lane entry can be purchased if the line is too long for you – read more HERE As you queue for the ride you are guided through ‘Mickey through the Ears’ where you can explore this magic movie star’s career with movie props and memorabilia.
The Ride Itself is a seriously impressive feat of imagining. We knew this was a really family-orientated ride, so didn’t have high hopes, We are not the target audience really, but we were actually pretty blown away. The tech deployed to create this ride is pretty monumental, For a basic dark ride the Imagineers brought out all their biggest guns. This is nearly on the scope of the Rise Of The Resistance, with their very expensive Trackless Ride Syatem and just fantastic sets that immerse you into a cartoon world with seamless 2-D Screens and Real 3-D Modelling. It all brings the Vartoon to life and is far more impressive than we imagined.
Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
This ride is so loved by Disney fans that Disneyland chose to include it in the newly refurbished Mickey’s ToonTown. The classic ride based on Who Framed Roger Rabit is a really fun experience. The dark ride is very zany, as you career through the sets and scenes based on the Roger Rabbit film. The unique part of the ride is the cars themselves can spin around the track independently controlled by the Steering wheel. This adds a different and fun element to the ride making the whole experience pretty whacky as you would expect.
Chip ‘n’ Dale’s GADGETcoaster
Aimed at the little ones, this is another ToonTown classic that remains after the re-opening. Chip and Dale’s GADGET Coaster is a fun Family coaster themed on the Chip ‘n’ Dales Cartoon. Do not expect too many thrills as the coaster is very child-friendly but it’s a smooth ride with some fast feeling turns as you enter the spiral dives. If your kids want to ride rollercoasters but are not quite up to the Mountain rides in the park yet this is a great stepping stone and will keep them entertained for hours (or as many times as you can face queuing!)
Attractions
CenTOONial Park
As you enter ToonTown Land, you are faced with CenTOONial Park, centered around a beautiful water fountain, designed for sensory play and for kids to enjoy. Nearby is a dreaming tree- which is a replica of the tree Walt Disney used to sit under in Missouri while dreaming up his great ideas. The tree roots provide a perfect play area for Kids and the open space is perfect for older guests to relax.
Goofy’s How to Play Yard
Another attraction aimed at the little ones is another play area for kids in Toontown, but a lot drier than over at Donald’s place (see below)! In Goofy’s neck of the woods, a sound garden awaits with Goofy’s clubhouse high up in the sky. Up there, the kids can enjoy a birdseye view of Mickey’s Toontown.
Donald’s Duck Pond
The home of Donald Duck has been turned into a fun water-filled play area for duckings and human kids alike! With towering water lilies, balance beams, and giant rocking toys this is the perfect adventure play area for your little ones. Be warned though, the kids will get wet at this attraction!
Food and Beverages
There are 2 new eateries in Mickeys ToonTown featuring family-friendly, comfort food.
Cafe Daisy
- Quick Service
- Price: $14.99 and Under
- Mobile Service Available
- Menu
Get your fill of comfort food with a menu with food for Families, Adults, and Kids alike, all acclaimed by the amazing Chef Daisy Duck. This menu has diner classics for all ages including hot dogs, cheesy pizzas, corn dogs, and mac n cheese. Remember to save room for Daisy’s famous homemade donuts with cinnamon sugar!
Good Boy! Grocers
- Grab and Go
- Price: $14.99 and Under
- Mobile Service not Available
- Menu
Located in ToonTown Farmer’s Market, Good Boy! Grocers sell healthy snacks and treats to refuel after all that playtime. This snack menu’s highlight is the Perfect Picnic Basket, which includes a choice of three snack-sized items for the kids to enjoy alfresco.
Shopping
Engine Ears Souviners
It would not be a Disneyland without a souvenir shop and of course, Disney would never miss an opportunity to sell you something! The Engine Ears Souvenir is a bit of a mouthful, but just say it out loud and you will get the clever joke.
The Store is Filled with Mickey, Minnie, and Friends merchandise including lots of stuffed toys, clothing, and a cute Radio-controlled Runaway Railway
Overall
Overall the newly re-imagined Toontown is a lot of fun for the younger audiences. But there is still lots going on for the big kids among us. The New Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway blew our expectations out of the water, and the whole way the land immerses you into a Cartoon world.
The renovation and Re-Imagining of the land was designed to coincide with the 100-year anniversary of Diney and it really has captured the essence of the original Dinsey Ethos perfectly.
Toon Town used to be a “skip-it” kind of location, reserved for the younger audiences, but we feel it’s now an essential part of the Park!
Have Your Say
Let us know your thoughts on the all-new Toontown at Disneyland California. What did you do on your visit to the land? Did you ride Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway? Did you meet the Mouse himself? what else did you get up to here? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and if you have any questions just free away in the comments
