Disneyland’s Reopens Toontown with Inclusive Design

Parkgoers at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, can finally return to Mickey’s Toontown this weekend after a year-long closure for renovations.

The cartoon-inspired land has long been a haven for Disney’s younger park guests, offering character meet-and-greets that include Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto, as well as kid-friendly rollercoasters and play areas.

The redesigned Toontown honors the space that first opened in 1993, keeping existing buildings like Mickey and Minnie’s homes intact, albeit with a paint job. But there is also a lot of new infrastructure for children to explore – with an eye to inclusiveness.

At its core, Toontown’s revamp is all about intent. Imagineers have designed a space for all children, creating accessible play areas, plus quiet areas and shaded areas so that the youngest park visitors have a place to exercise or rest their pent-up energy.

The redesigned land, which will open to the public on March 19, is fully wheelchair accessible, including the slides, and is visually and aurally approachable for children who are easily overwhelmed by loud or bright sensory stimuli. The whole country has been repainted in softer colors and some areas have more subdued, spa-like musical scores.

“We want every child to know that when they came to this country, this country was designed for them,” said Jeffrey Shaver-Moskowitz, executive portfolio producer at Walt Disney Imagineering. “That they were seen and that this place welcomed them.”

Shaver-Moskowitz said the Imagineers spent time checking out children’s museums and water play areas to see how kids engage and developing different stations around the country to accommodate different types of play patterns.

“We know that a day at Disneyland can be hectic and chaotic, moving from one attraction to another, from one reservation to another,” he said. “We wanted Toontown to be not only exciting, but also decompressing and relaxing and welcoming.”

With that in mind, the Imagineers have introduced more green spaces to the country, places to picnic, sit and relax or play freely.

“We really wanted to take a look at Toontown, knowing how important it was to so many of our guests over many generations growing up and the so many memories here that are tied to the land, and to make sure we don’t miss any of that,” said Shaver-Moskowitz. “But bring a lot of new magic.”

When guests enter the new Toontown, they pass Centoonial Park. The area is anchored by a large fountain featuring Mickey and Minnie, as well as water tables for children to dip their hands into, and the “dreaming tree.”

The living tree was selected from the Disney property for its cartoonish limbs and leaves. Around the trunk are sculpted roots that children can climb over, crawl under and swing through.

“One of the most important play features for little ones is learning the concepts of over, under, and through,” Shaver-Moskowitz explained during a media tour of the country earlier this month. “So you’ll see that some of the roots are big enough for little ones to crawl under. Some can be used as balanced beams for little ones learning to get their feet underneath.”

(There’s also a wheelchair-accessible trail that navigates the roots.)

Centoonial Park is also next to the El Capitoon Theater, home of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Riders are invited to the premiere of Mickey and Minnie’s latest cartoon short ‘Perfect Picnic’. Jokes ensue, however, and guests are taken for a ride on Goofy’s train, which takes them into the cartoon world.

The trackless ride has no height or age restrictions, allowing even the smallest Disney guest to participate.

Further across the land, guests will see Goofy’s new playground, which wraps around Goofy’s house and features a sound garden, filled with musical bridges and melons, as well as Fort Max, a climbable clubhouse with attached slides.

Shaver-Moskowitz said the roller slides were chosen for space, so that little guests, who often have less mobility in their legs, don’t get stuck on the bottom of the slide. There is also more space at the bottom of the slides for guests who need time to get back into a wheelchair.

“We try to make sure we think of every guest here,” he said. “Making sure every little one who comes to play here feels like we designed the space for them.”

Also outside is a small roped off area for babies to crawl around and experience the area safely.

In Goofy’s house is a series of games that children can play to help Goofy grow honey from the beehives on his property into candy. Here, little park visitors can sort candy by taste and color and watch a kinetic ball machine activate all over the room.

Extra care has been taken to suppress the sound of the air compressors pushing the balls around, Shaver-Moskowitz said, in an effort to ensure that people with sensory sensitivity aren’t overwhelmed and can still enjoy the experience with their peers.

In a separate area next to Goofy’s new playground is Donald’s Duck Pond, a water experience for kids. Imagineers intentionally separated this space from the playground so that parents can better monitor their children around the water features.

Shaver-Moskowitz noted that the land’s previous design meant that children would occasionally run to their parents drenched after walking into the water playground.

Donald’s Duck Pond has a tugboat that spits out water, spinning water lilies, balance beams and rocking toys. Inside the boat, kids can help Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby with a leak in the hull, spinning wheels and levers to push the water out.

The Imagineers have also revamped the food in Toontown. New restaurants like Cafe Daisy and Good Boy! Grocers offer a wide variety of selections and flavors for young park visitors and more mature foodies.

Michele Gendreau, director of product optimization for food and beverage, explained that the team wanted to make eating easy by creating hand-held food that can be eaten on the go.

Daisy’s cafe’s menu features “flop over” pizzas, hot dogs, and wraps. Here adults can grab a cold brew coffee or honey-mango sweet tea. For dessert, there are mini donuts covered in cinnamon sugar.

“Kids want to eat what their parents eat,” Gendreau said, pointing to kid-friendly versions of traditional pizza.

At Good Boy! Grocers, guests can buy take-away drinks, snacks and novelties. The roadside stall offers the “perfect picnic hamper,” including up to three snacks and a drink. Kids can choose from a variety of options, from hummus and pickles to granola bars and apple slices.

The baskets are arranged at multiple heights so that even the smallest guests can choose their own items, giving them a bit of autonomy when it comes to mealtime.

Parkgoers can scoop up picnic blankets, T-shirts, toys, and other exclusive Toontown merchandise at EngineEar Souvenirs.

Plus, meet-and-greets with fan favorite characters will return to the land. Guests can have their photo taken with Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Donald Duck, Daisy, Pluto, Clarabelle and Goofy. And for the first time in a Disney park, Pete will appear and cause mischief in the neighborhood.