Disneyland Centennial Celebration: Opening of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway kicks off festivities
ANAHEIM, Calif. - The celebration of the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company at the Disneyland Resort begins Friday with the opening of Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway and the debut of "World of Color -- ONE."
Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway marks the first time Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse have starred in a ride-through attraction at the Disneyland Resort. The attraction is located in Disneyland's Mickey's Toontown, which will reopen March 8 following its closure on March 9, 2022, for the land's makeover.
Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway combines sets, audio-animatronics figures, animated media and projection-mapping techniques, all synchronized with trackless vehicles and a musical score to transport guests into the world of Disney Television Animation's Emmy Award-winning "Mickey Mouse" cartoon shorts.
The attraction begins at the "El CapiTOON Theater," a pun on the Disney-owned El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, where Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway transports guests into what is billed as "the wacky and unpredictable cartoon world of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, where they board a train engineered by Goofy and embark on a zany, out-of-control adventure with surprising twists and turns."
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Guests may see different details of the attraction depending on which vehicle they ride in and where they're sitting within each vehicle.
The attraction also includes such other iconic Disney characters as Pluto, Goofy, Daisy Duck, Donald Duck and Pete and a new character created for the attraction, a little bird named Chuuby, pronounced "choo-bee."
Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway features several sound effects created by Jimmy Macdonald for Disney animated shorts dating back to the 1930s. Some new effects were developed using Macdonald's original equipment. The tri- tone whistle from Mickey Mouse's debut cartoon in 1928, "Steamboat Willie," was used to record the locomotive whistle sound for the attraction's train.
Guests on the attraction will be required to join the complimentary virtual queue, accessible only via the Disneyland app. There will not be a standby line for the attraction upon its opening. Guests may also get quicker entry to the attraction with the purchase of an individual Lightning Lane arrival window, subject to availability.
Debuting Friday at Disney California Adventure Park is the water and light spectacular "World of Color -- ONE," which uses an array of fountains, lighting, lasers, fog and flame effects and music to tell the story of how a single action -- like a drop of water -- creates a ripple that can grow into a wave of change.
The 1,200 fountains in "World of Color -- ONE" act as dancers, interpreting the various moments in the show. During the "Born to Play" sequence from Disney and Pixar's animated film "Soul," the jazz tune appears to be "played" by the fountains.
"World of Color -- ONE" is the first Disneyland Resort nighttime spectacular to feature characters, music and stories from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, the Avengers and Star Wars in the same production.