The Walt Disney Company has a milestone year ahead of it, as the House of Mouse soon hits the one hundredth year of its existence. With that anniversary coming to pass, Disneyland kicked off its 100 Years of Wonder celebration at the California theme park with the opening of Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway on Friday. However, not everyone at the parks that day were given the chance to get a closer look at the park’s newest attraction.
CinemaBlend’s own Dirk Libbey was on site at Disneyland to cover the opening of Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway when he noticed how the theme park’s cast members were keeping the attraction hidden from guests without access to the ride. As he posted to Twitter Friday morning:
Cast Members are verifying VQ at the top of the ramp so you can't see through the gate if you aren't doing the ride pic.twitter.com/pVqEhXFO1lJanuary 27, 2023
As Libbey reported, cast members were verifying that guests had spots in the Virtual Queue before they were allowed to see through the gate at the newly redesigned ToonTown. In other words, you had to have a spot to get on the actual ride in order to take a look at the much-buzzed-about attraction. The decision was probably made internally in order to control crowding in the location and make sure those who successfully got into the virtual queue were nabbing their deserved spot on the ride amid opening day.
It goes to show just how exclusive an attraction the new ride is right now. So know that if you're planning to go to Disneyland and simply get a sneak peek at Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, you might very well be turned away before entering the ToonTown gates as well.
The opening of the brand-new Disneyland venue comes after the ride debuted at Walt Disney World back in March 2020. As Dirk Libbey also learned from Marnie Burress -- Portfolio Project Executive with Walt Disney Imagineering -- during his visit to the park, this new ride in California has a few differences from the Florida version, in terms of the exterior, scenes within the ride and the flow guests will experience it.
Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway in Florida has a reputation for breaking down quite frequently, reportedly shutting down more than 300 times last year (but hey, it wasn’t as bad as Rise of the Resistance’s 2022 record). Hopefully, the Disneyland iteration won't experience the same issues as the Florida one and won’t hold up guests down the line. Of course, right now as the ride is brand new, extended wait times are expected.
The new Disneyland offering is serving as a kind of soft opening for the new and refurbished ToonTown. Right now, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway is the only aspect of the location that's open and debuted on Friday earlier than we thought, with the rest of the land set to finally be revealed this March. CinemaBlend will continue to provide more exclusive news about Disneyland’s 100 Years of Wonder celebration along with coverage on upcoming Disney movies.
