Considering the rumors of what's happening at Disneyland in recent years, and what actually did happen (or is happening) based on such, I don't know what to believe anymore.
Losing Toontown would be no big deal to me. Find a new place for guests to visit Mickey, ship 'Car Toon Spin' to Shanghai and make room for Olaf. Roger Rabbit feels really dated - right there with The Gummi Bears and Heffalumps and Woozles cartoon series.
If they get rid of Toontown, then they should get rid of it in Tokyo, too. Perhaps they could move their Small World over to that spot, as per the original plans, and then fill in the old Small World space with that Alice In Wonderland section that was thought of but now apparently scrapped. As for Roger Rabbit, I imagine they would just scrap it and not move it anywhere.
I could not possibly disagree more. The Gummi Bears remains an excellent series. Given the penchant for pulling old properties out of the dust, I entertain a small personal hope it will get revived one day. A Quicktunnels Attraction could be so amazing . . . .
I don't know if an attraction would work, but perhaps they could do a Gummi Bears movie, one of those live-action movies with CGI animated creatures (like "Alvin and the Chipmunks" or "Garfield" or "The Smurfs"). They could also do a revival series, like they're doing with "DuckTales".
One rumor I heard, and I hope is the case, is that the Frozen ride would be taking over most, but not all, of Toontown; the area with the Roger Rabbit ride would be spared and Mickey's house would somehow be relocated over to this area, out of the expansion site. But if that happens, I honestly hope they wait until after the Star Wars land opens, however long it takes. As Dusty Sage said, in that time, the plans for the Frozen ride could be moved, changed or even canceled altogether. I imagine we will hear something more about this at the next D23 (in 2017). After all, it was where they announced all of that stuff related to the Star Wars land last year (which so many people have speculated would be the case).
Roger Rabbit still has long lines in Disneyland, just like it does in Tokyo. It's not going anywhere.
Well, maybe not, but the bigger problem for me is Mickey's house. I hope that the rumor it somehow gets relocated holds true.
With the addition of Star Wars land, I believe Disney is capable of making any kind of ridiculous changes they desire. Yet, I think they are well aware of the role nostalgia and family tradition play in the popularity of the park--that, generations of people return time and time again to , "Remember the magic." One drastic change at a time, however. If you buy into the rumors, you may think all of DL will be redesigned. If that happens, I will have no reason to return. The magic that I and my children remember each time we visit the park, will only be found in those dusty old slide trays, and be recalled as the good ol' days, while we plan our next trip to Walleyworld.
Who knows? I never thought they'd bulldoze Mickey and Minnie's houses in Walt Disney World (even if Toontown Fair was a shadow of Toontown in Anaheim and Tokyo). But they did, much to my surprise. The kids who saw the houses and held them dear have grown up, and the new little ones don't seem to think about it much. In a larger sense, except for Toontown in Tokyo Disneyland (which is always packed, has a good restaurant, several good attractions, and a two-hour line to meet Mickey in his house) that the concept in California is essentially a failure at this point in time except for Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin would could easily blend into an extension of Fantasyland.
Well, like I said, one rumor is that the Roger Rabbit ride and Mickey's house would somehow survive, with the latter being moved closer to the former. I hope that's the case. Like I also said, I imagine we will know more at the next D23, in 2017. That was, after all, where they formally announced the Star Wars land last year.
Depending on the schedule of things, we may know a lot sooner than D23. If the announcement can conveniently be made at the Expo then it will, but they won't hold up any work because of the announcement schedule. Similarly, if an announcement isn't ready to go quite yet, they won't say anything about it If I'm not mistaken, a couple years ago there was a big reveal (Avatar details, maybe?) at the D23 Japan expo a couple months after the US one simply because the information wasn't ready to be shared at the US one. It's great when they can announce things there, but it often doesn't align with the real-world schedule of a continually functioning company
Well, I have no idea when or where they're going to announce anything, I was just using D23 as a prime example of when they could announce something. All I hope is that they wait until after the Star Wars land opens (which would likely take until at least 2019) before they do announce anything. And then I hope they do spare the Roger Rabbit ride and Mickey's house, which are the two main draws of Toontown.
Soon Mickey and Minnie's house will look like a gentrification project - with attractions built up all around them.
