Mr. Toad Lives!

March 05, 2007

I wrote about some of the old rides at Disneyland a couple of years ago. What I hadn’t realized that the classic “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” had been closed at Walt Disney World in Florida back in 1998. That was one of my favorite rides as a kid and it was unique in the Disney World version in that it had two different tracks, each track giving a different experience (same as Space Mountain). The ride is still available in California, but it is only on one track.

It was always memorable in the ending when a crash with an oncoming train transforms Mr. Toad and the riders into “hell” and then they escape from hell with his wild driving. The oncoming train headlights were always a well-done effect.

One of the interesting things I found related to Mr. Toad was a site where a guy had been working on recreating the entire “Mr. Toad’s” experience in a virtual 3D environment. Called “Virtual Toad”, you can find more about it at the link below.

Evidently when Mr. Toad was being closed at Orlando, Disney received quite a few protests from people trying to save the ride. Just as with roller coasters, there are also fans of these so-called “dark rides”, and they are equally rabid in their interest.