ANAHEIM, Calif.—The celebration of the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company at the Disneyland Resort begins Jan. 27 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 on 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. 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.
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 classic 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.
The water and light performance “World of Color—ONE,” debuts Friday at Disney California Adventure Park. It 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 used in the light show 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.
The show 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.
