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Disneyland Previews Roger Rabbit Ride : Entertainment: Theme park will officially open the attraction Jan. 26 to generate excitement during the slow winter months.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Disneyland visitors will soon be able to embark on a journey past falling dinnerware, exploding fireworks and the menacing maw of a steam shovel--all in about four minutes.

It’s all part of Roger Rabbit’s Car-Toon Spin, a new ride that was previewed Thursday at the Anaheim theme park and is scheduled to open officially on Jan. 26. The attraction was giving test rides Thursday as part of the celebration of Mickey Mouse’s 65th birthday.

Among those getting a preview were some of the 6,500 children who were flown in from as far away as Australia to march in a confetti parade down Main Street USA and watch the unveiling of a bronze statue of Walt Disney holding hands with Mickey. Similar anniversary events were held the same day at Disney theme parks in Florida, France and Japan.

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Unlike the park’s Pinocchio and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride attractions, Roger Rabbit’s Car-Toon Spin allows visitors to spin the steering wheels of the tiny taxicabs as they make their way from room to room.

“It’s the largest and longest ‘dark’ ride we have ever produced,” said Judson Green, president of Walt Disney Co.’s theme parks division. “It fills out Toontown.”

The ride is based on the animated and live-action movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” which starred Bob Hoskins and the beleaguered bunny.

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Disneyland officials predict that the Car-Toon Spin will be one of the park’s more popular attractions. They are so sure, in fact, that they have kept the ride under wraps, even though it was completed during the summer, to give the park a new feature to promote during the slow winter months.

It will likely be the last new attraction in the park until the Indiana Jones ride opens for summer, 1995.

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