Toontown at Disneyland

[wifeofsmartass]

At Disneyland, Toontown is called "Mickey's Toontown." We all know that it's just simply called Toontown in WFRR, so why does Mickey get to be the big cheese? It should just be called plain ol' Toontown. What do u people think?

[Nidhiki]

disney land opened in 1955, and wfrr came out in 1988..so they called it mickys toon town instead...if WFRR came out before the park opened...it may have been different ;D

[wifeofsmartass]

But Mickey's Toontown at Disneyland didn't exist until the early 90's. I remember the commercials. They had that toon sun from WFRR advertising it. Holy crud! I must have been like, 6 years old, or something around that. You know what they had in place of Mickey's Tootown before they built it? These little boats that you ride in and drive around in sort of a lake thingy. Kinda like those autopia cars they have that you drive.

[Nidhiki]

realy....never knew that....but they proberly did it because it's in Disneyso the named it Mickys Toontown..because it sounsd more Disney Like

[wifeofsmartass]

Yeah, I think you're right. I wish they had just called it Toontown.

[Just Plain Rydell]

I bet the book was written ages before Disneyland's Ride, or whatever it is...


-_- or maybe not.

[Fatal hilarity]

Say what? Of course the book was written before the Disneyland attraction was made. I'm assuming you're talking about Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf, on which Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is based. Why would you doubt that the book was made before the ride or whatever you're talking about? I'm confused.

I'm not at all sure why WFRR coming out in '88 instead of before the opening of Disneyland in '55 would have anything to do with whether or not the name gets "Mickey's" tagged in front. But I suppose it is plausible that they named it "Mickey's Toontown" just to connect it to Disney more than Touchstone, Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg, or Gary K. Wolf.
But here's the way I see it: There's this fictional story about how Walt was looking for land to build Disneyland on, and he visited Mickey in Toontown to discuss it. The story goes that Mickey pointed over the fence to the infamous orange grove that it now stands on as a suggestion. So what that means is that Toontown is supposedly right next to Disneyland... instead of somewhere in LA.
The only explanation for that I can think of is that Toontown obviously breaks the laws of time and space, so it could probably be as humungous as it wants to be and spread all over southern California without actually taking up any space. You know how there are stories with a house that's bigger on the inside than on the outside? Think of it that way.
The story continues with the toons deciding to open Toontown to the public, since they've been next to Disneyland this whole time. We "visit" them, so why not have everyone "visit" us?

But here's the thing: it's quite obvious that we're only seeing part of Toontown. Mickey's Toontown is the smallest "land" in the whole park- smaller than New Orleans Square or Critter Country- unless you count Storybook Land, which I don't.
Also, according to the comic books, Mickey lives in Mouseton, while Donald lives in Duckburg. Occasionally they'll be treated as one and the same, but Duckburg is a heck of a lot more famous than Mouseton, as proven by the legacy of Carl Barks, Scrooge McDuck's creator, and the existence of DuckTales.
So the way I like to see it is that we're getting more or less a designated tourist area when one visits Mickey's Toontown. Car Toon Spin I think is the closest we get to seeing the "real" Toontown, since it's specifically based on the much grittier WFRR rather than any ol' Mickey short. It's revealed to be a dark, seedy, and dangerous place, likely full of pie-throwing maniacs and howling wolves.
So one could say that the tourists are being guided through the "safe version" of Toontown.

Of course, in reality it's likely that they say it's Mickey's because he's such an international icon that goes beyond his actual film and comic career, representing the company and symbolizing Walt, the person that he was, what he believed in, his success, and undying optimism. Slap Mickey's face on something, and you've got instant Disney! A cheerful, friendly, and welcoming face on the industry. That's what makes him the big cheese (pun intended) in the world of cartoons.
What really happened I hear is that there were plans for an ambitious new "land" behind Main Street based on the Roger Rabbit franchise called "Hollywoodland", as well as one for Orlando celebrating Mickey's sixtieth birthday called "Mickey's Birthdayland". I honestly don't know how they would've made the latter at all interesting. Finally, there was something based on Roger Rabbit planned for an expansion of Disney-MGM Studios.
The financial troubles over the Euro Disney Resort caused these plans to be cut back and more or less combined to create Mickey's Toontown. That probably explains why the technology and animatronics in Car Toon Spin aren't much better than the ones in Fantasyland... It sure would be nice to have that ride be a lot more realistic (so to speak), wouldn't it?

[Just Plain Rydell]

Yeah, I was.

You seem to not get what I mean often, eh? Maybe our brains aren't compatible... :/

But anyway, Micky has always been the star, hasn't he? The big Disney star?

Still, it's good to see someone does some research around here!!

if you ever have ANY doubts, ask this guy. Answer guaranteed.

[Weasel Freak]

Mickey was originally going to be named Mortimer, but Walt thought it didn't fit and scrapped the idea. Instead, he named the famous cartoon rodent after his own pet mouse, Mickey. He later made a Mortimer Mouse (or rat, dunno which) to act as a rival for Minnie. He's the exact opposite of Mickey: he's tall, he has a shirt on, and he's totally heartless.

(BEAT THAT!!!)

[wifeofsmartass]

*Sigh* I honestly wish Disney made a huge Toontown, like as big as Disneyland, and it was made to really portray how Toontown is in WFRR. And that would also mean retaining the adult themes. They'd therefore have things like bars and such. What an experience that would be; getting snockered in a cartoon setting. XD My brother and i are always talking about how cool it would be if Disney made such a place.

[psychoangel51402]

Nov 26, 2008 16:41:29 GMT -5 Weasel Freak said:

Mickey was originally going to be named Mortimer, but Walt thought it didn't fit and scrapped the idea. Instead, he named the famous cartoon rodent after his own pet mouse, Mickey. He later made a Mortimer Mouse (or rat, dunno which) to act as a rival for Minnie. He's the exact opposite of Mickey: he's tall, he has a shirt on, and he's totally heartless.

(BEAT THAT!!!)

Heartless? How so? Tell me more!

[zoroark]

Perhaps it is because Mickey became the president of Toon Town!! ....I think!! XP

[Syrup]

Haha. I like your theory. Maybe it's true.
I think it's because its Disneyland. And Mickey was what started Disney and stuff and yeah.

[theamericanmarten]

I wanna go to Disneyland to see Mickey's Toontown sometime.

[The Forgoten One]

cool