Opinions and Commentary, Walt Disney World

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway | It’s Fine

Boy oh Boy! Was I one excited 38 year old man when I finally got an opportunity to ride the first ever Disney ride dedicated to the mouse that started it all. It’s kind of crazy to think that in all this damn time Mickey Mouse never had an actual ride in any of the Disney Parks, anywhere. We can hem and haw about who TF let that happen for all these years, but that’s another topic for another blog post or podcast. *Editor’s Note – this article contains light spoilers*

So, It’s August 2020 and I’m at Hollywood Studios for the zillionth time in my life. What am I most excited to see, Star Wars stuff? Please. I’m geeked to see my boy Mickey and his gal Minnie try and stop a friggin’ runaway train. Why in the hell they let Goofy’s dumbass drive is still a mystery, but I’m down for the ride.

Disney billed this ride as 2.5D. Basically 3D, but without the glasses. It’s done by using 2D cutouts lighting effects a few animatronics and some other technical jargon I don’t give two heaps about. The concept animations were very promising and that’s all I cared about .

Did Disney deliver? Well, kinda.

It’s not that the animations fail or the ride itself is poorly scripted. It’s the fact that you’re supposed to be thrust into the cartoon alongside the characters. Instead what you get is just a ride-through. You look at at one show scene and move to the next. While there are some cool wind effects and uses of screens temporarily during parts of the ride. At no point did I feel part of one of the Mickey Shorts cartoons that Disney is trying to portray. Also, depending on where you’re seated some of the effects just aren’t as cool. Especially the crushing scene at the end if you’re not in the front. Furthermore as noted on social media the ride still glitches out. We got fully stuck once and the ride stuttered later in our journey – so beware this is not a polished attraction yet.

In Closing…

I’m not trying to bash the ride. I just wish that for the most pivotal character in the history of the Walt Disney Company there’d have been a bit more WOW put into it. My 6 year old daughter is a big fan of the Mickey Shorts cartoons, but even she was somewhat disappointed with the ride experience. That said, we did enjoy the ride and would certainly ride it again if the line is sub 45 minutes.

**UPDATE 10/09/2020**

Here’s a video of my experience with the ride as described above

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