Ride / Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway

Burst into a world where mouse rules apply.

Nothing can stop us now.
I'll tell ya how
We're gonna make it happen.
Let's take a ride
And spend a day in the countryside.

— "Nothing Can Stop Us Now".

Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway is a dark ride attraction found at the Disney Theme Parks, based on the 2010s Mickey Mouse cartoons. It opened on March 4, 2020 at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida, replacing The Great Movie Ride, and on January 27, 2023 at Disneyland in Mickey's Toontown.^note It was initially scheduled to open in 2022 but was delayed to 2023 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Notably, this is the first attraction in Disney Park history to be headlined by the mouse himself. That said, Imagineers have toyed with the idea of a Mickey-based ride since at least the 1970s; unrealized proposals over the years have included "Mickey's Madhouse" — a wild mouse roller coaster through black-and-white Mickey cartoons in a never-built land at Disneyland called Dumbo's Circusland — and "Mickey's Movieland"/"Mickey's Studio Tour" — a madcap Disney studio tour featuring numerous characters and set pieces.

At both parks, Runaway Railway's entrance and queue take the form of a movie theater (specifically, the Chinese Theater at Hollywood Studios and the "El Capitoon Theater" at Disneyland). Guests are invited to watch the premiere of a new Mickey Mouse cartoon, Perfect Picnic, in which Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto prepare for a picnic outing and encounter Goofy conducting a train. Guests then enter the cartoon themselves by passing through a simulated movie screen, where a wild and zany ride awaits them.

The ride features a new technology known as "2 and ​1/2 D", which allows two-dimensional environments to come to life in stereoscopic 3D via projection-mapping — all without requiring riders to wear specialized 3D glasses. Appropriately enough, it also contains more Hidden Mickeys than any other Disney ride.

Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway contains examples of:

• Book Ends: After the movie-theater-styled pre-show, guests enter the ride by going through the movie screen. Guests then pass through the screen again when they exit the ride.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: And how! During Perfect Picnic, Goofy's train goes out of control and crashes in the Railroad's train barn, spreading so much debris around that it punctures a hole in the movie screen. Goofy then notices the guests and invites them to take a ride on the train. He even interacts with the cast member on duty, asking them to help the guests step inside the cartoon while he goes back in the barn to fix the train.
  • Also, if the attraction breaks down when a train is at the finale sequence, the Mickey animatronic will directly address riders, apologizing for the delay.
• The Cameo:
  • Donald Duck has two brief appearances: one in the amusement park, where he is a hot dog vendor, and the other in the city, where he is an irate truck driver, honking his horn impatiently at the train, which has caused a traffic jam.
  • Horace Horsecollar appears in the amusement park as a popcorn vendor.
  • Huey, Dewey and Louie are among the guests at the amusement park.
  • Pete appears in the city, where he is working on road construction with a jackhammer powerful enough to shake the neighboring buildings.
• Company Cross References: The opening section of the Disneyland version's queue is lined wall-to-wall with posters for Mickey-infused parodies of various live-action Disney movies, from well-known hits like "Honey, I Shrunk the Nieces" and "High School Goofical 3: Senior Year", to oft-forgotten oldies like "The Absent-Minded Professor Von Drake" and "The Scroogiest Millionaire", and even cult favorites like "Meeska Mooska" and "The Mouseketeer".
• Developer's Foresight: If the train has to stop in the final scene before the unload, Mickey and Minnie can be seen harmonizing after the Triumphant Reprise of "Nothing Can Stop Us Now" ends.
• Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud: A twister is one of the hazards that the mice have to go through while following the train. Amusingly, it's actually the logo of the "Twister" roller-coaster come to life.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Despite all the crazy things that happen, Mickey and Minnie are able to save the train and enjoy their picnic.
• Easter Egg:
  • Given that this is a Mickey-centric ride, it's only natural that there are Hidden Mickeys in all sorts of places, some more obvious than others. It's been said that this ride has more Hidden Mickeys than any other ride at a Disney theme park.
  • Guests pass by the "1401 Flower Shop" as they enter Daisy's dance studio. Swap "Shop" for "Street" and you have the address for the Glendale headquarters of Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney's in-house attraction shop.
  • The address for the first tunnel guests enter is 1928, the year Mickey made his debut.
  • In the amusement park, there is an ad for a concert by the Firehouse Five Plus Two, a Dixieland jazz band consisting of members of the Disney animation department.
  • A list of all the easter eggs found on the ride so far can be read here.
• End of an Era: Minnie's longtime voice actress, Russi Taylor, managed to finish recording all of her dialog for the ride shortly before she passed away on July 26, 2019. As such, this marks her final performance as Minnie Mouse, with Kaitlyn Robrock assuming the role in future productions.
• Expanded Universe: While there have been many different versions of Mickey Mouse over the decades, this ride is specifically based on the 2013 TV series.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In a scene exclusive to the California version, Goofy tries to find the engine's manual in the overhead compartment, only to have a comically large avalanche of assorted objects fall on him. It goes by too fast to make out unless you take a video and pause at the right time, but the engine's manual is indeed among these items.
• Fur As Clothing: In the funfair scene, after the twister strips Donald of his clothes, it plucks him of his feathers. Donald reacts as if the feathers were additional clothes, throwing his arms (which would be the equivalent of wings to an anthropomorphic duck like him) towards his bottom. Interestingly, Donald is normally depicted without pants.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: Instead of a relaxing ride around Runnamuck Park, guests are taken on a wild and zany adventure that sees them get caught in a stampede and a twister, go underwater, and even almost get smashed in a factory.
• Inevitable Waterfall: The train goes over one after it, along with Mickey and Minnie, escape from an erupting volcano.
• It's All My Fault: Mickey says this (almost) word-for-word when he realizes his and Minnie's car hit the track switch, disconnecting the train from Goofy's engine.
• Living Drawing: The logo of the Twister roller coaster sprouts eyes and then jumps out of its sign during the carnival scene, becoming an actual tornado that sweeps up everything in sight, including Mickey and Minnie.
• Lower-Deck Episode: Pluto's subplot, which involves him and Mickey and Minnie's picnic basket getting separated from the two mice. He spends the majority of the ride trying to bring the basket to them, and guests with a keen eye can spot him in the background of nearly every scene.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • Happens constantly throughout the ride, but perhaps the most significant is the climax, where it transitions from Daisy's dance studio to the entrance of a factory.
  • When Mickey and Minnie stop the train from getting caught in the Smasher, the set magically changes from a factory to the park, where the train rejoins Goofy.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The Hollywood Studios version contains several references to its predecessor, The Great Movie Ride:
    • The twister scene is a nod to a cut element of the ride's The Wizard of Oz section — the iconic tornado that sends Dorothy and Toto to Oz. Disney wound up being unable to afford a contract to use the scene, so they used the space meant for it to feature Mickey as "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" in Fantasia. To further cement the reference, among the debris carried by the tornado is a mailbox with the phrase "No Place Like Home" written on the side.
    • Among the posters in the carnival area is one for an attraction called "The Great Moving Ride".
    • Right as guests enter the factory, they pass by a shaking trash can, and those with a keen ear might notice the sound of a scared cat. This effect was taken directly from the gangster section of the ride, even using the same sound effects.
  • The premise of the ride itself is one to the climax of Mickey's Trailer, in which the titular trailer is disconnected from Goofy, who's driving, totally oblivious to all that is going on. However, on the ride, it's Mickey that causes things to go wrong rather than Goofy.
  • Amongst the debris in the tornado is a trombone, calling back to the classic short The Band Concert.
  • A picture of Walt Disney driving a train on the Disneyland Railroad is hung on the wall near the ride's exit.
  • To further add to the ride's story, the lobby of the Chinese Theater in the Hollywood Studios version displays a number of posters for previous shorts in the series. Additionally, the neon entrance marquee just outside is clearly designed after the title cards used in the early black-and-white Mickey Mouse shorts.
    • Amusingly, this also isn't even the first time Mickey's been associated with the Chinese Theater, as he visited its real-life equivalent all the way back in the 1933 short Mickey's Gala Premier to attend the premiere of his newest (In-Universe) cartoon, Galloping Romance.
  • Disneyland's version of the ride is instead located in Toontown's new "El Capitoon Theater", a clear reference to Disney's own El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood where they premiere all of their newest films. This version of the ride also features a revamped queue which includes an exhibit by the "Toontown Hysterical Society" showcasing props and costumes from across Mickey's extensive cartoon and media history.
• Naked People Are Funny: Donald in the funfair scene after the twister strikes.
• Never Trust a Trailer: Commercials for the attraction imply that Goofy's engine accompanies the train through all the shenanigans that it gets involved in during the ride. In the actual ride, however, Goofy is only present at the very beginning and the very end, with his engine being separated from the train for the majority of the ride.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Things go wrong when Mickey and Minnie's car hits a track switch, causing the train to be disconnected from the engine.
• Nothing Can Stop Us Now!: The name of the song in this ride. Also, Mickey says this phrase when he, Minnie, Pluto and the guests all wind up on an island, seemingly safe and sound — right at the moment when a volcano erupts, forcing them to flee.
• Punny Name: Goofy's train is called the Runnamuck Railroad. A pun that is further driven home if the ride breaks down, where Mickey will tell guests that the Runnamuck Railroad has run amok.
  • Also, the Disneyland version of the attraction is set in the "El Capitoon Theater".
• Rewatch Bonus: If you pass through the ride multiple times (or see multiple ride-throughs of it online), a second look at many of the scenes will allow you to spot Pluto, carrying the picnic basket and looking for Mickey and Minnie.
• Runaway Train: The train that guests ride on, as the attraction's name implies.
• Slasher Smile: Pete smiles like this when he sees what a racket his jackhammer seems to be making.
• Shout-Out:
  • Among the posters for attractions for the carnival is a poster for "The Great Moving Ride", which just appears to be a standard escalator. This might be a reference to the "ride" at Escalator Land from The Fairly OddParents!, albeit with the escalator going down instead of up.
  • When guests end up in the underwater section of the ride, they pass by a submarine and a giant squid.
  • Two references to The Simpsons can be found at the Disneyland queue's concession stand: A dispenser of "Secret Sauce" blatantly made from expired mayonnaise and dispensers for Ketchup and Catsup being placed side by side.
• Tempting Fate: During the pre-show, Mickey and Minnie sing the lyric "I don't know how we could have any trouble" just before the cartoon starts to go, well, off the rails with Goofy crashing his train and inviting the guests inside the cartoon.
• The End: As guests pass through the screen to return to the real world, these words are displayed on it.
• Title Theme Drop: A variation, the end credits theme from the 2013 show the ride is based on is played at the exit, when the riders pass back through the screen to the real world.
• Triumphant Reprise: The attraction's main theme, "Nothing Can Stop Us Now", is given one at the end of the ride as Mickey and Minnie enjoy their picnic after having saved the train.
• What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Said word-for-word by Goofy at the beginning of the ride. Naturally, it doesn't take long before just about everything that could go wrong does.

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