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Like many Toad fanatics, I'm often asked, "Who's Mr. Toad?"
We'll answer that question in a moment, but first, a bit of personal history.
Some people are football fanatics, some collect baseball cards, some are obsessed with comic book heroes. I'm totally,
hopelessly hooked on "dark rides."
Is it a lifelong obsession? Or is it just my latest mania? That's me, by the way, the Mad Scientist in his element,
outside the "Toad Hall" restaurant in Disneyland Paris.
One thing's for sure: I've always had some sort of creative project on the table. I once built an entire miniature golf
course in my backyard. My Halloween display grows in size and complexity each year. I started both my high school and college
television stations. Bottom line: I just have to have a project to work on, preferably an impossibly complicated one. It's
just the essence of who I am.
Anyway, just remember-- you asked. So here goes.
"Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" was one of the original attractions that opened at Disneyland in California in 1955.
It's based on the animated Disney film "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad." The Mr. Toad portion of that
film was based in turn on the classic children's book "The Wind in the Willows."
The ride, book and film all deal in one way or another with the manic tendencies of a certain J. Thaddeus Toad, one of
the well-to-do animals living on a river bank in the English countryside around the turn of the 20th century. With a lot
of free time on his hands, Mr. Toad is prone to indulging in certain "manias." One of the most damaging of these
manias for Toad is his obsession with motor cars. This "motor mania" causes all sorts of problems. Toad ends up
going to prison for allegedly stealing a motor car, and his antics nearly lead to the loss of the ancestral Toad Hall to a
group of no-good weasels.
When Walt Disney World (WDW) opened in 1971, "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" was also one of the park's original Fantasyland
attractions. Like its Disneyland counterpart, the WDW version sent you racing through several blacklit scenes in a turn-of-the
century automobile. But the WDW version was much larger, much wilder, and much, much cooler. There were actually two sides
to the ride... two totally different tracks you could choose from. These separate tracks came together in certain places,
but each was essentially its own experience, closely related to the other, but somehow unique at the same time.
The WDW Toad ride was also much more stylistic and more artistically complete than its Disneyland cousin. There's never
been a "dark ride" before-- or since-- that's delivered such a uniquely manic experience.
And what an experience! What made the ride so unbelievably special? It's hard to describe. Each side took you completely
out of reality, sending you instantly into another world. Part of the appeal was that, unlike other Disney attractions, the
movie this ride was based on wasn't well known, so part of the fun was to try and figure out what the ride was all about.
For many kids growing up in the 1970's and early 1980's, Mr. Toad was the first "thrill ride" they experienced.
And it was the only ride at Disney with a naked lady, the only ride that sent you hurtling head-on into an oncoming train,
and the only ride where you ended up in hell at the end!
All of this combined to make "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" a veritable cult classic among the Gen-Xers. But unfortunately,
it wasn't enough to save the Walt Disney World incarnation of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. In 1998, the Walt Disney Company shuttered
the ride, building a "Winnie the Pooh" attraction in its place.
The plans to remove Toad were leaked to the public in an Orlando Sentinel article in October of 1997. A dedicated group
of Toad fans banded together, held protests in the park, and organized a protest effort on the Internet. The "Save Toad"
movement received national media attention.
But Disney didn't budge.
On
September 7, Labor Day, 1998, as a slow, dreary drizzle
coated the concrete in a cloud-covered Fantasyland, Mr.
Toad took his last "Wild Ride" at Walt Disney
World. The Winnie the Pooh attraction opened in its place
less than a year later.
An
important piece of Disney history, one of the greatest "dark
rides" of all time, a unique slice of pop culture,
a priceless piece of childhood to millions, was lost forever.
Or was it?
Even before the pending closure of Mr. Toad was announced,
I mused to a fellow Disney fan... "Hey, wouldn't it
be cool to recreate Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in miniature reality?
You know, build a model and have a tiny video camera go
through the ride on a track?" When Toad's closure was
announced, this seemed a natural way to recreate the experience.
 To
make a long story just a bit shorter, let's just say my electromechanical
skills leave a lot to be desired. After several failed attempts
at making a miniature ride system work, I ditched the idea.
Then, 3D animation technology improved to the point where
a computer-animated, "Virtual Toad" just might be
possible-- a true photo-realistic recreation of something
that no longer exists! Like reconstructing an ancient temple
by computer! Now who would pass up a creative project like
that?
And so it began.
Using dozens of old photos, grainy video clips, and lots of
imagination, I've been working to re-create the ride. In the
process, I've learned a lot about 3D animation-- and the pleasure,
perils and pitfalls of perserverance!
 Fast
forward to the present. The project's taken up so much time
that it seems senseless to give up on it now. I've tackled
most of the major artistic and technical hurdles, although
I'm having a bit of trouble with some of the more complex
3D objects in the ride. All that's left is to build out the
rest of the attraction, and wait patiently while the computer
renders the experience.
When it's all finished, whether it be on DVD or installed
in some "virtual reality" setting, people will once
again be able to experience a small slice of "dark ride"
heaven.
Who knows? Maybe someday the good folks at Disney will restore
Mr. Toad and his Wild Ride to the roster of attractions at
Walt Disney World.
That would be a truly happy ending to a very wild ride indeed.
Spencer Cook
October 2003
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