Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
Disneyland
AreaFantasyland
Coordinates33°48′48″N 117°55′07″W / 33.8133°N 117.9187°W / 33.8133; -117.9187
StatusOperating
Opening dateJuly 17, 1955 (1955-07-17)
Magic Kingdom
AreaFantasyland
Coordinates28°25′12″N 81°34′49″W / 28.4199°N 81.5802°W / 28.4199; -81.5802
StatusRemoved
Opening dateOctober 1, 1971 (1971-10-01)
Closing dateSeptember 7, 1998 (1998-09-07)
Replaced byThe Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Ride statistics
DesignerWED Enterprises
ThemeThe Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Vehicles16
Riders per vehicle2
Vehicle namesMr. Toad, Toady, Ratty, Moley, MacBadger, Cyril, Winkie and Weasel
Audio-Animatronics17
Must transfer from wheelchair

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is a dark ride at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. It is loosely based on Disney's adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows (1908), one of two segments comprising the animated package film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). The ride is one of the few remaining attractions operational since the park's opening in July 1955, although the current iteration of the ride opened in 1983. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is located in Fantasyland,[1] a variation of the attraction also existed as an opening day attraction at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World from 1971 until 1998.

In all versions of the attraction, guests have assumed the role of the titular Mr. Toad, recklessly careening through the English countryside and streets of London in a period motorcar before ultimately meeting demise in a railway tunnel and ending up in a tongue-in-cheek depiction of hell. The attraction, unlike other Fantasyland dark rides, is not a direct retelling of the film that it was based on. Its ending in particular is an original scene that has no basis in either the 1949 film or the original novel by Kenneth Grahame. Originally envisioned as a roller coaster, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was realized as a dark ride because Walt Disney felt as though a roller coaster might not have been appropriate for young children and the elderly.[2]

  1. ^ Strodder, Chris (2017). The Disneyland Encyclopedia (3rd ed.). Santa Monica Press. pp. 343–344. ISBN 978-1595800909.
  2. ^ Gennawey, Sam (2013). The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney's Dream. Unofficial Guides. p. 87. ISBN 978-1628090123.