Disneyland celebrates Disney’s 100th anniversary with a new Mickey & Minnie drive-through attraction

Celebrations of The Walt Disney Company’s 100th anniversary at Disneyland begin today with the opening of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, a new feature that marks the first time the beloved mice have starred in a drive-through attraction at the Anaheim resort.

The attraction is located in Disneyland’s Mickey’s Toontown, which will reopen on March 8 after its one-year closure on March 9, 2022 for land transformation.

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway combines sets, audio-animatronic characters, animated media and projection-mapping techniques, all synchronized with trackless vehicles and a musical score reminiscent of the Emmy-winning animated animation “Mickey Mouse” by Disney Television.

The attraction begins at the El CapiTOON Theater – a pun on Disney’s El Capitan Theater on Hollywood Boulevard – where Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway transports guests to the so-called “crazy and unpredictable animated world of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse,” where board one of Goofy’s designed trains and embark on a crazy, out-of-control adventure with surprising twists.

Guests can see different details of the attraction depending on which vehicle they are driving and where they sit in each vehicle.

The attraction also features other familiar Disney characters such as Pluto, Goofy, Daisy Duck, Donald Duck and Pete and a new character created for the attraction, a bird named Chuuby (pronounced “Choo-bee”).

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway features several sound effects created by Jimmy Macdonald for 1930s Disney animated shorts. Some new effects were developed using Macdonald’s original equipment. The tricolor whistle from Mickey Mouse’s debut 1928 cartoon “Steamboat Willie” was used to house the locomotive’s whistle.

Attraction guests must join the free virtual queue, which can only be accessed through the Disneyland app. There is no line when the attraction opens. Guests also gain faster access to attractions by purchasing a custom Lightning Lane arrival window, based on availability.

Also new to the resort is World of Color – ONE, a water and light show that makes its debut today. The water and light show at Disney California Adventure Park uses a variety of fountains, lights, lasers, fog and flame effects, and music to tell the story of how a single action—like a drop of water—creates a wave that becoming a … a wave of change.

The 1,200 fountains in World of Color — EEN act as dancers and interpret the different moments of the show. During the “Born to Play” scene from the Disney/Pixar animated film Soul‘the jazz tune seems to be played’ from the fountains.

World of Color – ONE is the first nighttime extravaganza at Disneyland Resort featuring characters, music and stories from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, the Avengers and Star Wars in the same production.

The City News Service contributed to this report.