The sinister side of Toontown.
Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin is a dark ride attraction at the Disney theme parks based on Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the subsequent Roger Rabbit shorts. Originally debuting in 1994 as part of a second phase of development in Disneyland's Mickey's Toontown, the land and the ride itself were cloned at Tokyo Disneyland in 1996.
A Creator-Driven Successor to classic Fantasyland attractions like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Tea Party, Car Toon Spin takes guests on a madcap joyride into the sinister underworld of Toontown, careening through dark alleyways, the Toontown powerhouse and into the Acme Warehouse in search of Jessica Rabbit who has been kidnapped by a gang of Weasels.
In 2021, as part of a series of inclusionary updates to attractions around the parks, Jessica's damsel in distress part was removed in favor of a new "Jessica as detective" storyline, which saw her red dress switched out for a yellow trenchcoat though Tokyo Disneyland still keeps the original version.
Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin contains examples of:
- Acid Pool: A large puddle of Dip in the opening scene is what causes the car to spin.
- Adaptation Distillation: While plot simplification is commonplace for Fantasyland-style dark rides, Car Toon Spin totally abandons the film's storyline in favor of an original story.
- Adapted Out: Eddie Valiant and Judge Doom are suspiciously missing from the attraction's plot. Wise Guy, The Dragon in the film (where he is known as Smart Ass), fills the roll of Big Bad.
- Animate Inanimate Object: A quartet of a mailbox, emergency call box, fire hydrant and telephone pole are found laughing away in the scene following the china shop.
- Badass in Distress: Jessica, who is being put in a car trunk by Wise Guy in the opening scene pre-2021 and in Tokyo. Not only does she tell him he'll never get away with it, she knew about the plan the whole time. She later reappears in the Gag Warehouse still tied up brandishing a large mallet, ready to beat up the Weasels and drop a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner.Jessica: This is gonna hurt you a lot more than it's gonna hurt me.
- Bowdlerize: Smartass, the leader of the Weasel gang, goes by "Wise Guy" in the attraction.
- Comedy as a Weapon: Roger transports guests out of the Gag Warehouse by way of a large Portable Hole. This is how the ride ends.
- Continuity Cameo: The Ink and Paint Club's gorilla bouncer, Baby Herman and the voice of Donald Duck all make cameos in the queue.
- Continuity Snarl: All the Weasels appear in the attraction despite having laughed themselves to death (except Smart Ass (here renamed Wise Guy) who was kicked into the Dip) at the end of the film and Dip is still being produced in large quantities, yet Judge Doom is nowhere to be found.
- Captain Ersatz:
- As ACME is a staple of Looney Tunes cartoons, Marvin Acme's warehouse from the film goes by the Gag Warehouse in the ride's finale.
- The cab guests actually ride in is named Lenny, Benny's cousin. Lampshaded when Roger and Benny appear in the first scene spinning out in a puddle of dip.
- The City Narrows: Even stepping through the entrance of the attraction, you're instantly transported from the bright and cheerful world of Toontown by day into the seedy alleyways and back corners of Toontown by night.
- Disney Acid Sequence: A whole hallucination scene ensues after Roger is electrocuted by Psycho, complete with large explosions and stars and Circling Birdies.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress / I Fell for Hours: A long fall from the top of Toontown's skyline (complete with scream) ends by crashing through the roof of the Gag Warehouse.
- Hell Is That Noise: The powerhouse is full of these, from crackling voltage to the disembodied heartbeat of the main generator.
- Mood Whiplash: The middle of the ride, which takes guests into the Toontown powerhouse, full of glowing coils, grinding gears and a giant mechanical face. The robotic warnings heard when entering the scene don't help the tone shift either...
- No Ending: In the midst of Jessica battling Weasels and Wise Guy about to dissolve the car with Dip, Roger transports the car back to the load area without ever stopping the Weasels or deactivating the Dip-mobile. A pair of doors resembling a cartoon end-title card, complete with its own jingle only makes things more confusing.
- Ribcage Stomach: The steel framework inside the powerhouse's main generator evokes this.
- Painting the Medium: The doors entering the china shop have jagged edges.
- Prepare to Die: Wise Guy's wisecracks just before he's about to spray the car with Dip.Wise Guy: Here's a little something to forget me by. Heh heh heh...
- Sapient House: Most of the buildings in this part of Toontown have eyes, if not full expressions.
- Scary Jack-in-the-Box: Not one, but two of these appear in the clutter of the Gag Warehouse.
- Selective Magnetism: Wise Guy uses two comically large magnets on the front of the Dip-mobile to pull the car towards it. This causes the car to stop spinning for the rest of the ride.
- Shout-Out:
- Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 can be heard both in the queue played by Donald Duck on piano, and as a recurring theme throughout various scenes of the ride.
- A casting notice for Melody Time can be found posted on the Ink and Paint Club's backstage bulletin board in the queue. Funnily enough, the notice calls for Toons only and no humans — even though humans, such as Roy Rogers and Ethel Smith, really do appear in the real movie.
- Story Breadcrumbs: The attraction's backstory is laid out in the queue by way of overheard dialogue from Jessica in her dressing room, Baby Herman in his apartment, and the Weasels in their hideout — all of which are bypassed entirely at Disneyland if you use the Fastpass line (which Tokyo's version does not have), which takes you directly to the load area.
- Visual Pun:
- Bullina's China Shop, of which an actual bull is said proprietor.
- A chicken crossing sign in the alleyway following the china shop.
- A literal elephant in the room hangs from the rafters in the Gag Warehouse.
- Wicked Weasel: The main antagonists.
- X-Ray Sparks: Roger's skeleton is visible when he gets electrocuted.
- Zany Cartoon: Much wackier than anything else in Mickey's Toontown, complete with a cartoon hallucination scene and a Chuck Jones-esque freefall.
