Just a few days after Splash Mountain closed at Walt Disney World Resort, evicting Br’er Rabbit and all his plans from their Frontierland home, and it appears that Walt Disney Imagineers are slowly removing yet another Disney rabbit from his own themed land.
Over at Disneyland Park in Southern California, Mickey’s Toontown reopened to the public after an extensive closure for much-needed refurbishment. While the renewed area opened with its own variant of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, certain things are missing, including the once-dominant presence of Roger Rabbit.
Disney’s groundbreaking 1988 hit film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? introduced fans to Roger, his gorgeous wife Jessica Rabbit, and Toontown itself–an official home where Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and all of their cartoon pals go about their daily lives. When Toontown opened at Disneyland in 1993, Roger Rabbit was a central character, earning his own dark ride, Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin.
While the dark ride survived the refurbishment, other things featuring Roger Rabbit have reportedly faded away. These include a Central Fountain with a statue of Roger as well as bathroom signage no longer featuring Roger and Jessica.
It is easy to speculate, though, why Disney Imagineers would want to fade out Roger Rabbit at the Disneyland Resort. His movie is not as popular or culturally relevant as it used to be, and there is also bound to be some “cancel-worthy” aspect of it for Disney’s PC censorship board, the “Stories Matter Team” to jump on and cause more division among the fanbase. But, again, this is all speculation and there has been no word from Disney with an official why. New attractions like Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway are also here to carry the weight of the lead role in the Themed Land.
It should be noted, though, that Disneyland officials are not replacing the beloved Toontown dark ride anytime soon, so Roger Rabbit fans can rest easy.
We at Disney Fanatic will continue to update our readers on Disney Parks news and stories as more developments come to light.