Mr. Toad's Wild Ride: What the Hell?

[MrLiver]

Actually when you think about it, almost nothing in Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is based off anything from the movie. The movie never really showed Toad driving the car at all. We only get to see Toad and Cyril riding through the countryside in the gypsy wagon.

The ride was based off classic carnival dark rides at the time - rides where things popped out at you and flashing lights blinded you. The Hell scene was really just based off a classic spook house ride. The imagineers just dressed it up and added some toad characters here and there and the ride has been fairly popular sense. But it's more popular in the sense of a carnival dark ride than any relation to toad, which I would guess, most guests have no idea who he is.

[Datameister]

Wow...I'm basically in total agreement with you, MrLiver. It's a nice feeling.

[mycroft16]

Those original Fantasyland dark rides were always more about overall effect than storytelling, considering the limited space allocated to each attraction.

They were also originally a ride in which YOU were the main character. So you were in fact playing the part of Mr. Toad, and going to prison and being separated from his automobiles was, I'm sure, like going to hell. So it is not just a clever fun ending, it's a glimpse into what it must have been like for J. Thaddeus Toad, esq.

Actually when you think about it, almost nothing in Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is based off anything from the movie.

Scenes come from "The Wind in the Willows" as well as from "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad." The car scenes come from the 2nd film mentioned. The mansion and library scenes come from the movies. The train is a derived from Toad's escape from prison sequence where he catches a train to escape the police.

The ride is very much based on the movies and stories by Kenneth Graeme, but much liberty has been taken in altering meaning and order in order to have a unique ride experience rather than a mere retelling.

[Legacy]

Alice in Wonderland is an example of a reworked dark ride that would have been better left alone, in my opinion. In the process of matching it to the movie's story sequence, it lost a lot of its original zaniness and color. (The March of the Cards and the croquet scene just can't compare to weaving your way between whistling, steaming teapots and teetering stacks of crockery on a giant tea table!)

Is that what the ride used to be like?! Wow, I was born WAY too late.

[hauntedmotion]

The ride was based off classic carnival dark rides at the time - rides where things popped out at you and flashing lights blinded you. The Hell scene was really just based off a classic spook house ride. The imagineers just dressed it up and added some toad characters here and there and the ride has been fairly popular sense. But it's more popular in the sense of a carnival dark ride than any relation to toad, which I would guess, most guests have no idea who he is.

They also took away some of the carnival cheesy-ness in the later years by adding additional scenes and details such as the Toad and Cyril Fountain.

[Dan - Tasmic!]

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

We don't refer to it as "hell"......we call it "The Inferno." Gotta keep things Disney-friendly after all. XD

I call it, "Purgatory" or "H - E - Double Hockey Sticks"

I never saw the movie.

[retrodiz]

Scenes come from "The Wind in the Willows" as well as from "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad." The car scenes come from the 2nd film mentioned. The mansion and library scenes come from the movies. The train is a derived from Toad's escape from prison sequence where he catches a train to escape the police.

Actually, Disney only made one Mr. Toad movie; not two. It's confusing because it was originally released in theaters as "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad." The feature title referred to two separate stories; "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "The Wind in the Willows". When Disney put the Toad movie on video by itself, they simply called it "The Wind in the Willows", but a later edition once again teamed it up with the "Sleepy Hollow" tale and restored the "Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad" title.

Alice in Wonderland is an example of a reworked dark ride that would have been better left alone, in my opinion. In the process of matching it to the movie's story sequence, it lost a lot of its original zaniness and color. (The March of the Cards and the croquet scene just can't compare to weaving your way between whistling, steaming teapots and teetering stacks of crockery on a giant tea table!)

Is that what the ride used to be like?! Wow, I was born WAY too late.

Yes, sorry you never got to see that.

There was also an "upside down" room that was a lot of fun.

[tamasurvivor]

The ride was based off classic carnival dark rides at the time - rides where things popped out at you and flashing lights blinded you. The Hell scene was really just based off a classic spook house ride. The imagineers just dressed it up and added some toad characters here and there and the ride has been fairly popular sense. But it's more popular in the sense of a carnival dark ride than any relation to toad, which I would guess, most guests have no idea who he is.

Pretty much explains it right there... Snow White was built the same way... I remember reading somewhere that Walt had wanted to build a spook house type of attraction in the park and has used the Wicked Queen from Snow White in the original version of Snow White which is why most of the scenes were of the darker and creepier parts of Snow White ad had the witch popping out from different parts... [I even heard it was toned down a bit when they redid Fantasyland in the 80's] someone correct me if I am wrong on that one!

[Peoplemover Priit]

I've read the book but not seen the movie. Yet every time we ride it that same question is brought up. I think they did this because in the book (not sure about he movie) Toad has to regain his hall from the weasels(?). I think that seen was a tad too bit to recreate. Not to mention violent, Toad took the lead weasel hostage!

[Nautilus]

Love the title of the thread, hauntedmotion That's pretty much the reaction of guests when they get to the "ending" for Snow White's Scary Adventure!

[aimster]

Haha, I love it when someone from Southern California or Florida talks about the cold weather. A cold winter day there is like a warm spring day here in New Hampshire, haha.

I lived in Michigan for 25 years and even up there, anything below 70, I was freezing. Snow is EVIL. I haven't seen any in 9 years now and I don't miss it one bit.

[Helios77]

The Hell section was never in the movie and was just added into the story by imagineers. They talk about it on the Disneyland: Secrets, Stories, and Magic DVD. The Hell section has always been my favorite part of the ride, haha.

is that DVD available yet? I've been looking for it and can't seem to find it.

[Nautilus]

^^It's been available for almost a year now...it's limited though. You may be able to get it used from Amazon.com.

[hauntedmotion]

Love the title of the thread, hauntedmotion That's pretty much the reaction of guests when they get to the "ending" for Snow White's Scary Adventure!

I'm assuming that you're talking about the fact that you're able to still see the "alive" witch while the other one is being struck by lightning at the end of Snow White's Scary Adventures... that last effect on that ride has always ruined it for me

One other thing they added to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (probably the same year they added the fountain) is that greenish-dragon thing that puffs smoke at you in the hell scene, or as Dan-Tasmic would call it, "H - E - Double Hockey Sticks." How a fire-breathing dragon has anything to do with the original story in any way at all is something I don't think we'll ever find out...

[dland_lover]

But that wheezing dragon is awesome, regardless of his relevance to the original story! And I always call that scene Hell, even in DL.