Sometimes, being proven wrong can prove great fun…
I’ve loved Walt Disney World for over thirty years, enjoying many adventures at the Most Magical Place on Earth from my early childhood to life as an adult writing about Disney parks. Despite the special place in my heart for Disney, I have to confess a personal flaw that’s developed over the years.
I’m a ride curmudgeon.
I love so many of the new ideas Disney has introduced into their parks. I could wander around places like Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge or the World of Pandora for hours, and I’m thrilled with new attractions like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Despite this, I find myself trending towards grumpiness when Disney decides to build new attractions on top of old classics. Frozen Ever After is a perfect example—it’s a great ride, well-executed across the board. Despite the attraction’s merits, I’ll admit I wasn’t happy they decided to build it right on top of Maelstrom, one of the most wonderfully weird attractions ever. On a rational level, I totally understand why Disney needed to do it, but I still get salty about it from time to time nonetheless. Heck, the last time I rode Frozen, I put in headphones and listened to the Maelstrom ride audio for old times’ sake (this was… a peculiar experience, like watching Snow White while listening to German death metal).
Like many of Disney’s older rides, I loved The Great Movie Ride. This distinctive attraction acted as my first introduction to the history of cinema and ultimately contributed to me choosing film as my career for much of my adult life. I loved the combination of a trip down memory lane with low-key thrills, particularly the unpredictable element of your tour’s “hijacker” who sometimes could be seriously hilarious.
In recent years, I began to recognize that The Great Movie Ride wasn’t aging well—the cast members seemed tired, less-engaged, and the animatronics were starting to show wear and tear. It seemed obvious the attraction would either need a thorough update or a complete makeover.
Video: YouTube, User: Best of Orlando
I wasn’t particularly thrilled when Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway was announced. It felt like Disney was giving up on the park’s cinema roots entirely, caving to push a kid’s attraction into an easily convertible space. Wouldn’t the Magic Kingdom be a better place for Mickey’s first real ride? Would this be another sad overlay attraction, a lesser shadow built on the bones of greatness?
I staunchly held out riding Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway until we finally spotted a 25-minute queue on a recent trip. I was surprised to learn that my husband—a huge Great Movie Ride fan—really wanted to ride it. I had forgotten that he finds the new Mickey and Minnie cartoons hilarious. I expected lots of screens, maybe some new effects, but largely for Mickey and Minnie to simply be inserted onto the track for the Great Movie Ride.
I’ll admit, I was wrong (it wouldn’t be the first time). Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway is a great attraction that I’ve come to recognize truly deserves its place in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Here’s what won this skeptic over…
1. The new Mickey & Minnie Cartoons are hilarious
I enjoy the occasional cartoon, but it’s been many years since I’ve been interested in any Mickey Mouse shows. In truth, I stopped caring about Mickey Mouse as a character years ago (with one exception—more on that later).
My tune started to change during an overnight stay at Disney’s Boardwalk last year. My husband was flipping through channels in our room and happened to pause on the new Mickey and Minnie cartoons—the ones where Disney combined the animation style of the old Steamboat Willie cartoons with the zaniness of newer iterations of Mickey Mouse (on a side note, as I wrote this, the thought occurred to me to look up “Steampunk Willie”—I was not disappointed).
We couldn’t look away.
The new Mickey & Minnie cartoons are truly hilarious. They were recently released on Disney+ as The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse. I particularly loved the way some episodes are done entirely in foreign languages (“Mickey! LA CROISSANT!”), taking the viewer around the world following Mickey and friends on increasingly more absurd adventures. We sat there watching cartoons for a good hour, cracking up together and sending particularly funny clips to our teen students.
I’ve said before that one of the most powerful draws of Disney parks is the combination of innovation and nostalgia. For adults, Disney parks are magical because they make us remember, tapping into that part of the imagination that makes you feel a bit like a kid again. At the same time, Disney often comes up with their best content when they combine nostalgia with new ideas.
The point is this: Disney made a smart call basing the ride off of these new, uniquely charming Mickey and Minnie cartoons rather than attempting to simply give visitors a museum of Mickey’s history. The cartoons are very well-done, to the point even adults can find them funny.
2. It fills an important role as an all-ages ride
Disney’s Hollywood Studios has always been a bit of a weird egg at Walt Disney World. In the past, it was largely considered a half-day experience mostly appealing to teenagers. That viewpoint has changed dramatically in the last year, particularly following the opening of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Disney’s least popular park has, ironically, become its most popular these days.
A common criticism surrounding the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was that it didn’t include any kid-specific rides. From an adult perspective, this is understandable as Galaxy’s Edge serves a different purpose, mostly appealing to Star Wars and science fiction fans ranging from older kids to adults. It seems likely that Toy Story Land was built to counter this sentiment—while adults can enjoy Toy Story Land, it makes no apologies for being kid-focused. The issue with both is that fans of one may not be interested in visiting the other, purely because of age focus. While Disney’s Hollywood Studios has always included entertainment options that appeal to both kids and adults, its attractions mostly feel like they fall in the either/or category.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway surprised me for its all-ages appeal. Sure, adults with zero patience for cartoons may not enjoy it, but the average Disney guest can enjoy it as much as Splash Mountain. It has no height restrictions—a huge win in a park where the top attractions all have one. The ride’s story holds universal charm—I could even see teenagers enjoying it if they like other parts of Walt Disney World. Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway walks the line between enchanting for kids but also clever enough to surprise older audience members.
3. It’s not simply an overlay attraction
I mentioned this previously, but my biggest concern for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway was that Disney was simply going to insert Mickey Mouse into the Great Movie Ride. Disney has had both hits and misses in the “overlay” ride category. Frozen Ever After, for example, follows Maelstrom’s ride path exactly, but it manages to have its own appeal and character. It works. Stitch’s Great Escape would be an example of a miss. I honestly expected Disney to take the easy way out on this one.
While Great Movie Ride fans may recognize some of the rooms and sets (such as the Mary Poppins and Tarzan sets), Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway properly feels like its own ride. I can’t say for sure if we followed the same track as The Great Movie Ride, but I appreciated that it didn’t seem like we did. The trackless ride vehicles add an element of unpredictability, and it really feels like a different type of attraction than its predecessor, less a tour and more of an adventure.
Now, I will say this—in a perfect world, I wish that Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway had been built as an addition to Disney’s Hollywood Studios rather than a replacement for the Great Movie Ride. It may have been beneficial to add another attraction to the park’s line-up. Despite this, I still can appreciate that the ride is more than a simple overlay.
4. The use of technology is impressive
For a while, it was looking like Disney was dipping into a lurch in attraction technology, relying a bit too heavily on screens and 3D-movie gimmicks for new content. While Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway does make use of screens and quite a few projection effects, I have to say I was very impressed with the use of technology on this ride.
I would have lost my cheese if I saw this ride as a kid. Every time I think Disney has cornered the market on bringing cartoons to life, they surprise me again. Perhaps the abstract nature of the new Mickey & Minnie Cartoons helped, but the animatronics felt incredibly real. My eyes widened multiple times at the way Disney used practical tricks to make cartoon characters appear in the real world, like something straight out of the old Pete’s Dragon. I especially liked the way that they managed to pull off making Mickey & Minnie’s heads look just like the cartoon—always pointed somewhat to the side, like a whimsical 2D drawing.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway is also another great use of Disney’s trackless ride vehicle technology. We’ve seen these before in Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. They add a delightful element of freedom and smooth movement to these newer rides, and their use in Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway is excellent, particularly as a means to connect scenes full of practical effects with mind-boggling illusions. As an old-time Disney fan, I particularly appreciated the return of something like the old SuperSpeed tunnels the Disneyland PeopleMover used to have (which used scenes from the movie TRON in the 80’s). All in all, the mixture of technologies tells an impressive story without making the ride all about the spectacle of the effects.
5. The ride’s story is genuinely enjoyable
Video: YouTube, @MyKingdomForAMouse
I mentioned earlier that the new Mickey & Minnie cartoons are hilarious. This kooky fun carries over well into Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, giving the ride a story that legitimately feels like being thrown into one of the couple’s ridiculous adventures.
We had a little trouble piecing together the story during our first visit as Disney is currently having guests skip the pre-show to maintain social distancing. Despite this, we were able to get the gist of it—Mickey & Minnie are on their way to enjoy a nice picnic when a rogue pie wrecks Goofy’s locomotive, triggering a series of zany mishaps, putting our heroes in increasing peril from tornados, volcanos, waterfalls, saxophone squids, and more.
I really expected this ride to be a simple “day in the life” attraction, but the story kept me engaged simply by how it kept getting more and more bonkers—just like a good cartoon. You find yourself asking, “What else could go wrong?” and try not to feel too bad at laughing at Mickey & Minnie’s escalating misfortunes. The attraction also includes a subtle twist I appreciated, where you may think the ride is finished, only for it to get even more silly and carry on.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway does a good job breaking the tradition of simply being a spectator ride with no solid story for guests to follow… As a matter of fact, the ride even has a B-Story following Pluto on his own adventure. Pay close attention on your next visit to spot it!
6. It makes Mickey more than a figurehead for the company
I’m an odd Disney fan in that I think over the years, I’ve grown a bit numb to Mickey Mouse. When I visit Disney parks, I’m not thinking about what Mickey merch I can buy or where I can get my next picture with the great Mouse. Part of this is because, at times, Mickey can feel like little more than a figurehead for the Walt Disney company, rather than a character with a rich story.
The one exception to this for me has always been during Fantasmic. I’m not the type to tear up easily, but to this day, my eyes still threaten waterworks the minute I hear the words, “Imagination,” and see Mickey Mouse appear in a cone of light. The reason why is that Fantasmic (particularly the Disneyland version) puts Mickey in the center of an entrancing story, making him a hero in the battle of good vs. evil, a protagonist facing the worst of our childhood nightmares (even those jazzy pink elephants on parade). Fantasmic makes us care about what happens to Mickey, as much as we would Flynn Rider, or Elsa, or Belle.
In its own way, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway injects some of this magic back into its namesake characters. It is kind of bizarre that in all these years, Mickey and Minnie Mouse have never had a ride letting guests experience their story. In the same way the new Mickey and Minnie cartoons breathe fresh life into the characters, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway takes it a step further, letting Walt Disney World (and soon, Disneyland) guests root for Mickey & Minnie in a captivating tale from their wacky world.
7. It provides a valuable draw for Disney’s Hollywood Studios
We’ve covered most of the reasons for this, but there’s no question that Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway provides an important draw for Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Its all-ages appeal helps to balance Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and its position as the first attraction focused on Mickey and Minnie gives fans who prefer Disney’s traditional content a reason to visit the park (instead of just Magic Kingdom). It also provides one more offering for families with small children who may have chosen to skip Disney’s Hollywood Studios otherwise. Overall, this is a win, as better attendance means more incentive for Disney to keep bringing great content to this park. There’s also no question that this ride will fit in fantastically at Disneyland in California when it opens.
The conclusion is this: I will definitely miss The Great Movie Ride, and I wish Disney had found a way to keep it. Despite that, I was genuinely surprised how much I ended up enjoying Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. It reminded me why not all rides need to have the awe-factor of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance or Avatar: Flight of Passage to be enjoyable. Sometimes, that perfect mix of nostalgia, innovation, and fun can be a great formula for a charming ride.
Enjoy this article? Keep reading to learn why there are some real benefits to visiting Walt Disney World right now… as well as what to expect if you visit Disney’s Hollywood Studios this week!
