Sorry it has been a few weeks since i last posted... but there has been alot going on... Today I would like to take a look at a former attraction at WDW...
Opened along with the park on October 1, 1971 Mr. Toad's Wild Ride made regular trips into one of Walt Disney's post WW II films, "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad." This film brought the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the Wind and the Willows together. The WDW version of this attraction was similar in theming and design as the Disneyland version however it had a few major differences.
The most obvious difference was that in WDW Toad had two separate boarding stations. This led to two different ride experiences.
Track one took guests on a trip outside on the English Countryside. This version began with your ride vehicle (an old jalopy) going through the town plaza past a police officer. Upon seeing the officer guests were then taken into a courtroom where you were found guilty and sent to jail. After taking a tour of the jail the guest was then involved in a shootout between the police and some gunmen and then led into a rail road crossing where you met your doom so to speak. After the subsequent accident the final scene found you in a Disney version of Hell.
Track two however was much different. after beginning within Toad Hall in the trophy room and to a gypsy camp guests were instead taken to Winky's Tavern instead of the Courtroom. This lead to the guests seeing the weasels that took over Toad Hall in the film. after leaving the tavern the jalopy again finds itself in the plaza and makes the wring turn onto the train tracks where it again the guests meet there end.
This popular attraction was set to be on the chopping block in the mid 90's. This led to many upset guests as well as Cast Member's. Guests could remember the closing of 20,00 Leagues Under the Sea and felt that they could stop the closing of Toad. They began what was affectionately known as "Toad-in's" in which people in the parks would see shirts like these in the parks:
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| Courtesy of savetoad.com |
Sadly on September 8, 1998 Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was closed for good. It was then replaced by the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Mr. Toad is not completely gone form WDW however. A statue of Toad can be found in the cemetery of The Haunted Mansion, and there is a picture of Moley handing the deed of the ride building over to Owl.
As of today the website virtual-toad.com has a virtual walk through of the attraction. check it out and enjoy your piece of Disney history. virtual-toad.com
It wasn't my favourite, not by quite a margin, but it was still a fantastic attraction, especially when you saw it at a younger age. I can still remember walking up and down Fantasyland trying to find it in 1999 without making the connection that it was gone... In the days before the internet reached non-tech heads like me!
ReplyDeletei know... it is amazing when those were the days and all of a sudden you went to WDW an things were different. Attractions gone, restaurants refurbished, and all the while you felt you were out of the loop... now-a-days we see and hear everything... from rumors to photos of the progress... almost to the point of nausea... (how much have we heard about the Fantasyland Expansion in the last year or so...?) but the 21st century is definitely the communication generation...
ReplyDeleteI still can't see anything on TV with train tunnels without thinking of the light coming towards me... it's incredible what a bit of repetition younger in your life will do to you for the rest of it.
ReplyDeletePart of me wonders, as sad and pathetic as it may sound, how we ever managed in the days before these websites and blogs. Turning up and hoping that your favourite ride just happened to be running? You'd never risk it like that these days!
i know i wouldn't risk it... but back then i don't think things went down as often, and they also didn't really update things too much... I find it strange now how often attractions go down now-a-days...
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