Check out my previous blog post about trying to get a virtual queue for Mickey’s Runaway Railway on January 27th without any success, along with all the festivities of the start of the 100th-anniversary celebration of the Walt Disney Company at Disneyland.
Determined to get footage of Mickey’s Runway Railway, my next day off was Tuesday, January 31st, 2023, I got my second chance for the virtual queue for Mickey’s Runway Railway after the near-instant distribution of the passes on Friday, and likewise for Saturday & Sunday for many other guests. Thankfully, since it is late January, many people are at school and work, so my likelihood for Tuesday is much better. I woke up right before 7 am and repeatedly clicked the refresh button for the virtual queue, and I got it for the 8:30 to 9:10 AM slot! However, I had to rush to get ready, eat, brush, and change into my jogging clothing as I live a couple of miles away from Disneyland, and I can jog there.
After thirty minutes of jogging, I made it to Disneyland at 8:40 am with plenty of time to get to Toontown. At the Toontown entrance, you show your virtual queue or paid Lighting Lane pass to cast members, then they will let you in. After the tunnel, you pop into Toontown where most of the area is still being constructed until March 2023 with Mickey’s Runaway Railway being the only attraction open, along with restrooms & a car photo op. The Roger Rabbit fountain has been replaced with artificial turf and the Jolly Trolly tracks were torn out.
Mickey’s Runaway Railway takes place at the El Capitoon Theater, a name play of El Capitan Theater, which is across the street from the Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, where the Walt Disney World version at Hollywood Studios is modeled after. At the entrance of the attraction, you scan your pass with a cast member and they will let you in.
The story of the attraction is that you are invited to the El Capitoon Theater to see the premier of the new Mickey Mouse short, Perfect Picnic, as we all know, it will never be perfect. The queue winds through the theater lobby, first are movie posters mashup of Disney movies with Mickey & friends, second is Mickey Through the Ears which is a “screen used prop & costumes” from his shorts & movies through the years, third room has his latter half of the 20th-century movies such as Prince & the popper, along with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and then props from the newer Mickey Mouse shorts. In the concession stand areas with references to movies in the items.
At the end of the main part of the queue, a cast member counts out guests to go into a theater to see Perfect Picnic. In the short movie, Mickey & Minnie pack up for a picnic and pack the car accidentally with Pluto packed in the trunk in the process. While driving to the park, they sing “Nothing Can Stop Us Now” and meet Goofy driving the locomotive of the Runamuck Railroad on the way. However, a rogue pie flew from the car, got stuck in the train funnel and the locomotive got out of control, and then exploded the train in the train barn. This in turn exploded the screen for the guests as a portal to go into the movie world. Goofy asks the theater cast member to see if it is okay with them to let the guests come along for the train ride through the story, which the cast member lets the guests into the movie world, she said sure, and the guests are guided into the loading platform of the train. This is where the main part of the attraction begins.
Guests are guided onto Goofy’s train and many cast members wanted to wave to us, probably because it is the opening of a new attraction and knows that guests are filming. This makes me think that Disney Parks management watches all the videos posted on YouTube, right? Then the train pulls out of the barn, and we follow Mickey & Minnie at Runamuck Park and then at a tunnel, where Mickey accidentally drove into a track switch where the trackless system comes into action as the cars split off and move independently. Then guests are whisked through several settings on the way, from the old west, an amusement park where a tornado blows Mickey & Minnie away, lands into a tropical rainforest, down a waterfall, into the ocean, down a sewer drain, into Toontown, and dance at Daisy’s dance studio where the train cars dance independently. Then Mickey & Minnie end up at a factory where they were nearly crushed and stopped in time, and finally ended back at the park. The train cars rejoin Goofy’s locomotive where he was unaware that the guests got accidentally diverted with Mickey & Minnie, and then arrived back at the train barn. Then guests exit the attraction through the Engineers Store, which is still getting worked on at the time.
It was a really fun experience, the queue was uniquely themed of Mickey’s “screen-used props & costumes”, the main attraction was immersive like you are in their movie universe, and I cannot wait for the rest of Toontown to finish work. However, if you come on the weekends, virtual queues & paid Lighting Lanes will still be hard to come by. Passes would be much easier to obtain if you come on a weekday.
AntSol Travel 