Extinct Attractions – Jolly Trolley

Welcome to Extinct Attractions. This week, let’s take a look back at Mickey’s Toontown’s very own transportation method.

This past Monday, Disneyland celebrated its 68th anniversary with a modest affair as is typical on anniversaries for non-milestone years. While the company’s 100th anniversary celebration kicks off this summer with re-releases of eight Disney and Pixar films, the Disneyland resort will be seeing some more of its upgrades through the year, so it made sense to keep the anniversary celebration light this year.

Over the years, the Disneyland Resort has seen more changes than Walt Disney could have ever imagined, especially with entire lands built around properties created after Walt passed away. But there was one area he probably could have foreseen, even though it was added well after his passing, that being Mickey’s Toontown.

When Mickey’s Toontown originally opened on January 24, 1993, it was very much a product of the 1980s, however, with characters from Chip ‘ n’ Dale Rescue Rangers calling Gadget’s Go Coaster home as well as the land’s biggest attraction in Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin (well, its biggest attraction then).

Via KPCC 

In the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the Pacific Electric Railway is a trolley system owned by Judge Doom who uses it to force people onto the freeway to help increase his profits. While the trolleys did not fully fit into the theme of Toontown, a modified version was a perfect fit for the toonified-land, so the Jolly Trolley was born, opening along with the rest of the land.

The Jolly Trolley loading area was centered in the middle of Mickey’s Toontown, so that guests could hop on the trolley for a roundtrip tour of the entire land, doing a figure eight around the Mickey and Roger Rabbit fountains that called each end of the land home. The idea caught on, so that when Tokyo Disneyland opened their mirror image of Mickey’s Toontown on April 15, 1996, Jolly Trolley was part of the fun.

I must have ridden the Jolly Trolley when I was a wee lad, but I was pretty young when it closed, so I don’t have any first-hand memories of riding it. Checking out the video, I thought it looked like a fun time, especially for youngsters because the Jolly Trolley bounced along its entire route, helping differentiate itself from its spiritual ancestor, the Main Street Vehicles.

Just like the Main Street Vehicles, the drivers had a busy job because they were basically honking at pedestrians the entire time to move them out of the way. With the narrow walkways in Mickey’s Toontown, especially around the curves, there was a legitimate safety risk with the trolley moving at a decent clip itself. Moving around the entire land, the best way that I could describe the Jolly Trolley was a fun menace.

Via Duchess of Disneyland 

That ability to be a nuisance ultimately led to the Jolly Trolley’s demise, especially since it was a safety issue to all those involved. Even with that risk, the attraction generally had a sizable line, which wasn’t helped by its extremely low capacity that clogged up Toontown even more. The Jolly Trolley called it quits in Disneyland in December 2003, but managed to stick around for quite a bit longer in Japan making it until April of 2009.

After it closed, the Jolly Trolley itself didn’t disappear from either park, instead parking itself at its station as a photo opportunity. Over time, the station evolved into a Vacation Club kiosk at Disneyland, but the trolley remained to remind guests of the old days (along with the tricks to trip on and silently curse as you twisted an ankle). But those days have ended now as Disneyland with the Toontown upheaval removing the station and tracks to make way for CenTOONial Park. It was a fun little tribute to have the Jolly Trolley there, but I’d take the updates to Toontown anyday.

Via Memes 

As always, don’t forget to check out my interactive maps of the Disney Parks throughout the years where you can watch or learn more about all the attractions from every Disney park around the world.

Thanks for reading and have a magical day!