The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (86 page)

Central to the plot of both the movie and the attraction is a substance called
Dip
.  In the film, it’s a substance that dissolves
‘toons
and is therefore deadly to them.  In the attraction, it’s spilled
Dip
that starts Guest’s taxicabs spinning and propels them on their crazy journey.

Guests in the queue will see
Dip
being manufactured, and a dangerous, acidic brew it looks.  The queue, as mentioned above, is designed to fold Guests gradually into the old Hollywood
‘toon
world that they’ll be traveling through for a solid four to five minutes–this is one of the park’s longer dark rides.

The queue is a sculpted series of noir Hollywood settings, from backstage corridors chock-full of props to the
Ink and Paint
Club
(watch out for the gorilla of a bouncer!),
Jessica
’s dressing room,
Baby Herman
’s office, and shadowy city streets where you hear a saxophone wail and you can just sense trouble in the air. The colors are deep reds, maroons like cherry dip, cobalt blues, inky purples, and dark greens—cartoonish but rich hues, the colors of graphic novels more than funny paper comics.  Watch
Dip
brewing in a nefarious vat, and peer down a forced perspective hallway.

When you arrive at the loading area, you appear to be in a
Toontown
taxi queue, and Cast Members will direct you to board one of two linked yellow taxicab vehicles.  Each adorable little cab, with headlights for eyes, is named
Lenny
; it’s the twin of
Benny
, the cab that you see
Roger
driving near the beginning of the journey.  Each cab seats two to three adults or children and has a “steering wheel” that can be spun, after you encounter the
Dip
, to rotate your vehicle.

As mentioned above, after you leave the loading area, the two linked cabs whiz past scenes of
Roger
and
Benny
skidding on a puddle of
Dip
, and
Jessica
being abducted by a
Weasel
.  Your spin wheel begins to work when you reach the
Dip
vignette, the idea being that your cab,
Lenny
, has also driven through
Dip
, making your ride a slip-sliding, spinning experience.

True to the goal the
Imagineers
set for themselves, they crafted an environment that is interesting from any angle, with the deep, dark colors and neon flashes of the film’s palette.  There are compelling voice tracks and audio and lighting effects as well (if you have problems with strobe lights, skip this attraction).  You crash through a china shop, a science lab crackling with electricity, and a big explosion like the explosion on the
Mr. Toad
attraction, but exponentially more powerful.

Skillful
trompe l’oeil
painting and forced-perspective set design make it appear at one point as if your cab is plunging down into the city of skyscrapers from a great height.  Combining the visual and sound effects with the spinning of your cab, many Guests feel a bit dizzy by the time they reach the finale in the
Gag Warehouse
, where they careen through a landscape of sometimes disturbing props (clowns, anyone?) and stacks of barrels tilt and wobble dangerously, seeming ready to crash down on your cab, yet another nod to
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
.

A
Weasel
threatens to douse you and
Lenny
with
Dip
, but all’s well that ends well;
Jessica
escapes from her captors and
Roger Rabbit
saves you with the attraction’s final gag, a classically cartoonish “portable hole” that he places against the wall, giving you a way out of the warehouse and back to the cab company and the unloading zone.

Once
the cab stops, the restraint bar is automatically raised and the cab door opens.  Please follow all Cast Members instructions. (Even on slow-moving rides, it’s always “safety first”.
Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
was the site of a tragic accident in 2000, when a small child tumbled out of his ride vehicle and was pinned under a following vehicle.  In the wake of the accident, legislators enacted landmark theme park safety mandates, and
Disneyland
deployed new
Roger Rabbit
ride vehicles with doors that close and latch.)

If you’re a fan of
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
or cartoons in general, including Warner Brothers cartoons, you’ll want to experience this attraction at least once.  This is a worthy tribute to the zany world of
Roger
and both his
‘toon
and live-action pals.

If you don’t do well on spinning rides,
refrain from turning the wheel and let the cab carry you through the less-dizzying default ride movements.  If you and your party aren’t
Roger Rabbit
or cartoon fans, you can skip this attraction and enjoy
Toontown
’s other offerings. 
Did You Know?
  The recipe for
Dip
is presented along the queue:  One part each Acetone, Benzene and Turpentine.  As artists know, these substances really
would
dissolve a
‘toon
; they’re ingredients for paint remover!  
Did You Also Know?
  Look for clever license plates in the boarding area.  They refer to
Disney
characters, songs, and productions.  Some are pretty obvious (3 LIL PIGS), but some might have you scratching your head a bit (ZPD2DA).  How many can you and your party decipher while you wait?
FastPass:
  Yes.  This is an extremely popular attraction,
Toontown
’s headliner.  On summer days and holidays, the queue can exceed one hour.  If your visit is short and time at a premium, pick up a
FastPass
at the
FastPass Dispenser
to the left of the entrance and return later for a short wait time.  The one drawback to the
FastPass
line is that it entirely bypasses the marvelously immersive queue.  If your time is precious but you don’t want to miss the creative queue, make this attraction one of your first stops of the day.  Lines are as short as five minutes when the
Car Toon Spin
first opens; you can walk the queue, enjoying the atmosphere and some of the gags, before boarding your spinning taxicab. 
Kid’s Eye View:
  There’s a long line but still it’s fun.  You can touch everything in the queue, there’s a lot of stuff going on, doors, hearing the voices of characters.  I like the ride and it doesn’t make me dizzy.  The ride is fun but a little bit boring.

Mickey’s Toontown Gear and Grub

Gear:

Gag Factory
/ Toontown Five & Dime

[
FastView:
  Toontown
’s version of the
Emporium
.  Lots of
Disney
treasures at many different price points.
]

Mickey’s Toontown
boasts only two shops, but they’re doozies.  Given that they’re adjacent and spill into each other, they feel like one big store with two separate (and separately named) entrances.

If you enter via the
Toontown Five & Dime
door, you’ll see a huge, sculpted nickel and dime over the entrance.

If you enter via the
Gag Factory
door, you’ll see a
Laugh-O-Meter
which registers the level of hilarity inside.  The choices?  “Smirk, Giggle, Chuckle, Laugh, Guffaw, Bellow, and Roar.”

It’s hard not to link the “
Laugh-O-Meter
” with
Walt
’s original cartoon production company
Laugh-O-Gram
films, which he started in 1922 in
Kansas City
,
Missouri
.  On the payroll was
Walt
’s talented friend
Ub Iwerks
who over time would become a great American animator, and the one who created
Mickey
’s “look”.

Those early days were rocky
for
Walt
.  Despite its sparkling talent pool,
Laugh-O-Gram
films was bankrupt by 1923, and
Walt
was on a train to Hollywood, California.  Sometimes down but never out,
Walt
’s great success (and a certain mouse) still lay ahead.

Walt
and his team certainly knew what it was like to shop at Five & Dime stores during the lean years.  “Five & Dimes” were inexpensive variety stores where you could pick up most anything, often for only five or ten cents.

In terms of the
Gag Factory
nomenclature, this is a reference to the importance of creating “gags” for cartoons.  Gags are funny moments and set pieces that make audiences laugh.

Walt
and his staff were always working up gags for their pictures, and they became more elaborate as productions grew more sophisticated.  An ongoing gag in 1950’s animated feature
Cinderella
, for example, would be more complex than a simpler gag in
Mickey
’s 1928 short
Plane Crazy
.

The
Gag Factory / Five & Dime
is a fun store with a bright and eccentric interior in keeping with
Toontown
’s
outlandish architecture.

The shop sells standard items like disposable cameras, park maps, pins
, and trinkets, but specializes in
Mickey
and cartoon-themed clothing, dolls, toys, and kitchen items.  All price points are served, so this is a good shop for kids to browse if they have a few
Disney Dollars
burning a hole in their pockets.

Most fun for the little ones (or the little one in all of us)
was an area where Guests could design their own
Ears Hats
.  As well as the classic silhouette, there were also
Robin Hood
-shaped-hats, as well as pirate and cowboy / cowgirl-shaped hats.  Giant signs explained the steps for happy hat-building.  Sadly, building your own hat was discontinued here, but there’s still a big selection of hats you can buy.

According to accounts I’ve read, i
t seems that there used to be jokes and gags for sale at the
Gag Factory
, but that’s no longer the case.  Guests seeking gags and pranks should stop at the
Main Street Magic Shop
.

Though you might not find gags for sale
here, you’ll still find the giant
Gag-O-Matic
machine, with its enormous, cartoonish vat, cogs and bellows, at the center of the
Gag Factory
. 
Did You Know?
  There’s a new five & dime store at the resort:  The
Los Feliz Five & Dime
.  Check it out when you visit
Buena Vista Street
at DCA!

Grub:

Clarabelle’s
(L, D, S)

[
FastView:
 
Salads and sandwiches.
]

This is one of
Mickey’s Toontown
’s three counter restaurants, and like its siblings serves up light, reasonably priced meals and snacks.  Guests who want heartier fare should venture to nearby
Fantasyland
(
Village Haus
) or
Tomorrowland
(
Tomorrowland Terrace
) or whatever park restaurant appeals to them.  The
Guide to Disneyland
brochures available at the
Main Turnstiles
lists the restaurants for each themed land in the park.

Clarabelle
’s is named for
Clarabelle Cow
, a staple character in the early
Mickey Mouse
cartoons.  You can’t miss this counter-service restaurant; in keeping with the bovine theme, the awning has a pretty white-and-black pattern that resembles the patches on a cow.

If you’re thirsty,
Clarabelle
’s stocks coffees, juices, milks, sodas, and water at price points from about $2 to $3.50.  Snacks include
Mickey ice cream sandwiches
and
Mickey ice cream bars
, fruit bars, and fresh fruit-and-yogurt parfaits, from about $4 to $5 each.