Runaway Railway

[FoolishMortal999]

Last week, I watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit on Disney + and it got me thinking about Disney’s Hollywood Studios and how an entire section of the park would be dedicated to the film. There’s one attraction based on the film in Disneyland  and a few references to the film at Hollywood Studios.

When Imagineers were planning Runaway Railway, do you think it was a missed opportunity that they didn’t theme it to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 

Edited September 30, 2020 by FoolishMortal999

[westical]

1 hour ago, FoolishMortal999 said:

When Imagineers were planning Runaway Railway, do you think it was a missed opportunity that they didn’t theme it to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 

Not really, WFRR is not a well loved property compared to Mickey & Minnie and it already had two rides at two parks. 

[FoolishMortal999]

2 hours ago, westical said:

Not really, WFRR is not a well loved property compared to Mickey & Minnie and it already had two rides at two parks. 

True, Who Framed Roger Rabbit may not be as popular as Mickey & Minnie but not by much. He’s extraordinarily popular by Disney fans.

Disney has five Pirates of The Caribbean attractions across the globe. Do you think two was enough? 

[westical]

1 hour ago, FoolishMortal999 said:

True, Who Framed Roger Rabbit may not be as popular as Mickey & Minnie but not by much. He’s extraordinarily popular by Disney fans.

Disney has five Pirates of The Caribbean attractions across the globe. Do you think two was enough? 

Pirates is a classic Disney attraction and has had five movies based on it in the last 20 years. 

WFRR is over 30 years old and Roger Rabbit is not even close to Mickey or Minnie in global popularity. How much Roger merch do you see for sale?

[FoolishMortal999]

24 minutes ago, westical said:

Pirates is a classic Disney attraction and has had five movies based on it in the last 20 years. 

WFRR is over 30 years old and Roger Rabbit is not even close to Mickey or Minnie in global popularity. How much Roger merch do you see for sale?

I have no problem with POTC. My point was you can’t say two attractions is enough. We have 5 pirates, 3 mansions ( 5 if you count PM and MM), 2 TZTOT ( 3 if you want to count Tokyo), 4 Jungle Cruises, 5 Space mountains. What’s wrong with adding another or similar attraction at another park? Especially when that park was intended to have a WFRR area.  

Tower of Terror was made into a film ( the first film to be based on a Disney Attraction) and even though it’s not as mainstream as POTC, it’s still a much loved film by many Disney fans.

Whilst I have no issue with Runaway Railway, the whole stepping into a cartoon world concept sounded like something they would also do for a WFRR attraction. 

 

[webslave]

Have a read:
https://www.mouseplanet.com/10382/Who_Disappeared_Roger_Rabbit_From_the_Disney_Parks

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

 

 

As for number of attractions, WFRR was built at a time when there wasn't much in the way of franchise tie ins.

9 hours ago, FoolishMortal999 said:

My point was you can’t say two attractions is enough. We have 5 pirates, 3 mansions ( 5 if you count PM and MM), 2 TZTOT ( 3 if you want to count Tokyo), 4 Jungle Cruises, 5 Space mountains.

In almost every case, in the case of a ride + movie \ franchise situation, the ride came first. The movie was inspired by the ride in almost every single case.

Nowadays, of course, we have toy story land and Marvel Avengers related indicia popping up all over the place - but back then an entire land themed around a single character (that wasn't their flagship Mickey Mouse) would have been unthinkable. Of course, they did start that process at DHS - but as you can see by Webslave's link - it just wasn't meant to be.

You can't justify 'build another WFRR attraction' based solely on 'there are 5 pirates rides' because the ride and theme came first. RR Car-toon Spin is a very small part of MICKEY'S TOONTOWN, and even in the height of Roger popularity, duplicating or expanding the attraction universe in multiple parks around such a character makes about as much sense as building a 7 Dwarves rollercoaster....

 

Edited September 30, 2020 by AlexB

[rappa]

They should build a Huss Rainbow

[Gazza]

I think if the other Roger Rabbit rides had been more successful there's no doubt there would have been more of them.

[rappa]

People rave about that roger rabbit ride but for me it never did anything more than say Mr Toads or similar. 

[westical]

1 hour ago, rappa said:

People rave about that roger rabbit ride but for me it never did anything more than say Mr Toads or similar. 

The spinning cars are fun and the queue is great, but the sets were made on the cheap. 

[Gazza]

When I did the Tokyo one it was wayyyyyy better than I remembered it, and I lost my shit at the final scene with the "instant hole in the wall" gag.