Next Stop: Toontown, U.S.A. : In Disneyland’s Newest ‘Land,’ Life Is Just an Endless Gag

In case you ever wondered, Mickey Mouse lives in the quintessential California bungalow surrounded by spotless streets, zero crime and superb mass transit.

Superb, that is, if you’re willing to be shuttled around in a lurching trolley car with a giant gold windup key through the roof.

Everything in Mickey’s Toontown is pretty much that way--functional but a little, well, goofy. Pint-sized inmates in the Dog Pound escape by parting the rubber bars. The cake in Minnie Mouse’s oven bakes before one’s eyes. The mailbox talks.

As the newest “land” of Disneyland, Toontown is a major project to reinvigorate the 37-year-old theme park while introducing youngsters to the primary Disney characters known so well to their parents. After two years of planning and construction, it formally opens to the public Tuesday.

Spread over several acres in a former maintenance yard on the back side of the park behind It’s a Small World, Toontown rivals just about any planned community. It has its own city hall, town square and residential tract. There is even a toxin-free industrial zone where guests are invited to thrust a plunger to blow up the fireworks factory. And don’t forget the miniature roller coaster.

In Toontown, life is an endless gag. It draws its inspiration from Robert Zemeckis’ 1988 hit film, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” in which Bob Hoskins is eventually led to the color-splashed, pie-in-your-face crazy world where cartoon characters, or “toons,” live. (A Roger Rabbit ride, in which guests take a crazy car trip through cartoonland, opens this summer.)

Translating the screen version into a living, breathing Toontown seemed like a natural thing to do. While the park has spent millions of dollars on new rides over the years, officials could not help but notice how folks still flip over the simple chance to shake the wing of a short person dressed in a duck costume. Why not, they reasoned, let park goers peek into the lifestyles of the furry and famous?

“Our mandate was to create a one-on-one experience with Mickey Mouse,” said Joe Lanzisero, a senior concept designer for Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale who was chief artist behind Toontown.

Toontown was constructed with homes for Minnie, Goofy, Donald Duck and Chip ‘n’ Dale. Such average kiddie diversions as inflatable rooms were given new luster. To enter Goofy’s Bounce House, for instance, guests wind through a garden of squirting watermelons, bell peppers that are real bells, and spinning flowers.

The slide gets a Chip ‘n’ Dale spin as part of the chipmunks’ home, which also offers a stash of acorns, suitable for diving into and crawling through.

Since Toontown was primarily designed for children ages 3 to 9, everything was designed to be hands-on. There are no barriers inside the houses. Guests are encouraged to sniff Minnie’s fruit-scented perfume bottles or chuckle over “Mice Station Zebra” and “Moby Duck” on Mickey’s bookshelf. For gadget-crazed toddlers, buttons beckon everywhere.

“The kids just flock to the interactive stuff,” Lanzisero said. “They want to push every button.”

In creating a kid-friendly environment, Disneyland isn’t exactly plowing new ground; it is simply raising the stakes. Knott’s Berry Farm, up the road in Buena Park, has had a Camp Snoopy children’s play area for years with some similar attractions. “They took a page from our playbook,” noted a Knott’s spokesman with grudging admiration.

But Disney spared no details in Toontown’s creation. Each of the cartoon buildings lacks straight lines and rectangular doors to give it the look of a cartoon. Disney flew in a European plaster specialist who sculpted each of the houses from models.

Just how much the village cost, Disney won’t say. Some estimates are as high as $100 million, which would be $30 million more than the tab for the Splash Mountain flume ride built in 1989. For their part, Lanzisero and partner Dave Burkhart are mum on the subject except to say they are satisfied that the budget was enough to achieve the desired level of quality.

Normally, such a major attraction would open at the start of the busy summer tourist season or, at the very least, before Thanksgiving to take advantage of the holiday trade. And it is usually accompanied by an admission price increase.

But Disneyland is taking the opposite approach by opening Toontown in the dead of winter. Instead of raising prices, park officials plan to bolster revenue by curtailing what would have been its third year of winter discounts for Southern California residents. Under the program, locals paid a flat $20 to enter the park, instead of the regular $28.75 for adults and $23 for children.

Disneyland is also minimizing additional operating costs by closing three old rides and diverting workers to staff Toontown. Gone are the Motor Boat Cruise, Mission to Mars and Fantasyland Autopia.

Toontown was actually finished before Christmas. As an added incentive for construction workers to hurry up and complete the job, shrewd Disneyland President Jack Lindquist scheduled a completion party for the crews and their families--knowing they would want the area ready in time for the gala.

Since then Toontown has quietly opened to the public on several days to try out the rides and fix any bugs. Initial guest reaction was good.

“It was fun!” exclaimed Lillie Sprecher, 7, who came as part of a Garden Grove youth group after a spin on Toontown’s 30-second miniature roller coaster.

“This is more for little kids, but I’m having a whole bunch of fun,” said Jonathan Foertsch, 11, after looking over the place.

In recent days, though, the area has been closed because of rain and in anticipation of a grand opening in which Disney is flying in media crews from around the world.

Clearly, Mickey’s neighborhood will never be the same.