Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin is a dark ride at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland that is based on Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis’ live action/animated feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The attraction can be found in both forms at Mickey’s Toontown. The Disneyland version debuted a year after Mickey’s Toontown, on January 26, 1994, while the Tokyo Disneyland version opened on April 15, 1996. The Disneyland version was upgraded in December 2021 to incorporate a new plot aspect featuring Jessica Rabbit in the character of a detective determined to stop a crime wave in Toontown.
Queue and Ride
Some license plates hanging on the wall at the entrance of the ride’s queue, as you enter the Toontown Cab Company, include code-like puns of various Disney characters or slogans. They include the characters 2N TOWN (Toontown), BB WOLF (Big Bad Wolf), MR TOAD (Mr. Toad), 1DRLND (Wonderland), 1D N PTR (Wendy & Peter), IM L8 (“I’m late” – The White Rabbit), CAP 10 HK (Captain Hook), L MERM8 (Little Mermaid), 101 DLMN (101 Dalmatians), FAN T (Three Little Pigs).
The line snakes through Toontown’s gloomy streets and alleyways, through the Ink and Paint Club’s backstage sections, including Jessica Rabbit’s dressing room and the prop cage. (In the US version, guests soon stumble upon a newspaper piece indicating that Jessica Rabbit, encouraged by her buddy Eddie Valiant, has become a Toontown private eye determined to put an end to the weasels’ recent crime spree.) Guests then passed by Baby Herman’s apartment window. The shadows of the weasels can be seen conspiring to Dip the city via a window on the top floors, with the queue passing over their Dip refinery. After leaving this location, guests return to the Toontown Cab Company and proceed to the loading area. The voices of the characters may also be heard throughout the queue, including two spots where the weasels can be heard discussing their intentions, one in the alley in front of the Ink and Paint Club and the other in their lair. Jessica may also be heard on the phone and speaking with her stage manager in her dressing area.
Guests board a yellow Toon cab named Lenny the Cab, Benny’s twin cousin. Each taxi has two seats and is deployed in groups of two. The cabs exit the loading area once the traffic light turns green in the loading area. Stupid, Greasy, and Wheezy begin the ride by throwing barrels of Dip into the streets, sending Roger Rabbit and Benny spinning out of control, and the guests’ cab driving into the Dip as well. At this point, the cab’s steering wheel becomes active, and the cab can spin around, similar to Mad Tea Party in Fantasyland. Smarty has tied Jessica up and placed her in the trunk of his car nearby. (In the US version, there are barrels of Dip in Smarty’s trunk that he is spilling onto the street. Jessica is dressed as a detective in a trench coat and fedora and stands behind Smarty with her arm held forward, commanding the weasels to stop dumping Dip).
The cabs then smash through the Bullina China Shoppe, which is run by a bull who is attempting to defend part of his inventory. When the automobiles leave the shop, they drive down Spin Street, where Toon fire hydrants, telephone poles, mailboxes, and streetlights giggle and dance.
The cabs then enter the Toontown Power House, where they pass a furnace with an abstract face and come see Roger fighting Psycho with electricity. The cabs “fall down” from Toon towers after passing through a sequence of explosions. Roger vows to mend things as he walks closer to street level, past a set of stairs.
The cabs then enter the Gag Factory, passing different jokes and gags, and a weasel named Sleazy holds open a massive metal gate for them. Jessica manages to free herself and uses a mallet to attack Greasy and Wheezy. (In the American version, Jessica attacks Greasy and Wheezy with a mallet from her “anti-weasel equipment” bag. Then stupid tries to drop a safe upon the cabs. They just avoid being dipped by the Dip Machine (controlled by Smarty), and Roger saves the visitors by stretching his arm out and using a movable hole to allow the cabs to return safely to the Toontown Cab Company, passing through a cartoon “The End” title card to return to the loading area.
Next Point of Interest: Sailing Ship Columbia