Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios

Jul 15, 2017 in "Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway"

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Posted: Saturday July 15, 2017 6:42pm EDT by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney has today announced that a new ride dedicated to Mickey Mouse is coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

The ride will make extensive use of new screen technology that Disney is calling 2 1/2D, with no 3D glasses required. The new ride will replace the Great Movie Ride, which will have its final day of operation August 13 2017.

On Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, you’ll step through the movie screen and join Mickey and his friends like never before. The attraction will put you inside the wacky and unpredictable world of a Mickey Mouse Cartoon Short where you’re the star and anything can happen. This zany out-of-control adventure features surprising twists and turns, dazzling visual effects and mind-boggling transformations that happen before your very eyes.

The attraction is inspired by the Mickey Shorts that you can see on the Disney Channel. And the people who bring you the shorts at Disney Television Animation are partnering with Walt Disney Imagineering to help bring the attraction to life.

Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway will feature a new story and a new singable attraction theme song as well as a new experience WDI is calling “2 1/2 D.” No glasses required. Walt Disney Imagineer Kevin Rafferty said teams are inventing new technologies that turn the flat world of a colorful cartoon short into a “dimensional display of amazingness.”

“This is one of the boldest…most impossible things I’ve ever worked on in almost 40 years of being an Imagineer. And you know what? That’s what I love about it. Well, that, and Mickey,” Kevin said. “This is not going to be a small attraction, it’s going to be game-changing.”

August 13, 2017 will be the final day of operation for The Great Movie Ride presented by Turner Classic Movies.

Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway concept art

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TikibirdLandJul 26, 2021

A lot of talent represented in this call! Interesting to hear from those that worked on the project. Really wished they had shown concepts, sketches and tune snippets that were involved in their creative process.

DCBakerJul 25, 2021

Here's video of the event from the post above -

DCBakerJul 11, 2021

Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway: From Animation to Imagineering Ever wonder what it takes to turn a classic cartoon into an immersive experience at Walt Disney World Resort? Join Disney as we bring together Disney Television Animation and Walt Disney Imagineering to discuss the process of creating Mickey and friends’ first-ever ride-through attraction in Disney history, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. This history-making attraction features an original story based on the award-winning Mickey Mouse shorts and features favorite Disney cartoon characters Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, and Pluto. This panel includes Charita Carter (senior producer, Walt Disney Imagineering); Kevin Rafferty (retired Imagineer and executive creative director for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway); Paul Rudish (executive producer and supervising director, The Wonderful World of Disney); Christopher Willis (composer, The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway Parks attraction); and Elsa Chang (character designer, The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse and Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway Parks attraction). Tune in as they discuss how they were able to combine the two worlds of animation and Imagineering and turn them into the “Perfect Picnic.” Start time: Jul 25, 2021 11:00 am (GMT-07:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) End time: Jul 25, 2021 12:00 pm (GMT-07:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) https://www.eventeny.com/events/comicconhome-1456/?action=schedule-item&action_ops=7128

Andrew MJun 16, 2021

We were one of the lucky ones to experience the ride on Opening Day, the pre-show adds alot and that initial reveal after the explosion is fantastic. Glad it's back.

Jones14Jun 15, 2021

I don’t mind the differing views on Runaway Railway because for every moment any car misses, there’s another that they get to see instead, and (in my opinion), no car misses the meat of the experience. Missing the pre-show really put a damper, though, so I’m glad that’s back.

WondersOfLifeJun 15, 2021

That's terrible

CastAStoneJun 15, 2021

You do lol. But the first cars leave the room before the audio finishes in some scenes!

WondersOfLifeJun 15, 2021

I do say the same about Soarin. I disagree about journey into your imagination with figment, though. You get a great view of how bad that ride is from many angles.

Giss NericJun 15, 2021

This is such a great pre-show and it definitely adds to the overall experience of the ride. I forgot that this ride was just open for less than two weeks before the closures and nobody got to the see this pre-show until today.

CastAStoneJun 14, 2021

You could same the same about Soarin or Journey into Imagination with Figment or, depending on your perspective, any roller coaster. I don’t think it’s defending it to sort out what the variance in ride quality by seating is.

WondersOfLifeJun 14, 2021

Point being, I think it's ridiculous that any of you are defending a lazy slapped attraction with a "BuT WHicH ROw DiD yOu SIt In?" question. It shouldn't matter. Simple as that. The attraction is not that good as a result.

WondersOfLifeJun 14, 2021

You were not faced with a bunch of random black unthemed walls for a long period of time if you sat in the back row, front car, or whatever. lol If you're referring to gangster vs cowboy scene, that has nothing to do with it being a trackless ride. That has to do with a show scene. (I know you didn't say all that, though. But still.)