Toon Street USA?

[Merry Mousketeer]

I've been listening to a new podcast, The Progress City Radio Hour, and in their second episode the hosts were talking about the D23 Anniversary Event at WDW and the announcement made that Mickey and Minnie's house from the Toontown Faire may not be totally going away. The hosts said they heard a rumor about an idea being floated around about retheming Main Street USA to a Toon Town theme and moving the Mouses' Houses in some form there. Now, to the hosts credit, they said this rumor could not be confirmed and they dismissed it.

However, I thought this would make an interesting discussion for all us armchair DisImagineers. Do you think:

1. Would Disney fans accept having Main Street USA reimagined to a Toon Town theme? Has the time come for a change?

2. What about reimagining the Main Street of an overseas park like Tokyo or Hong Kong? The 19th century Victorian architecture is not a part of their culture, so would this be accepted? I suspect this wouldn't go over too well in Paris since the Victorian-style architecture isn't totally foreign to them.

3. Could this concept be introduced into a brand new overseas park like Shanghai? Instead of seeing a 19th century Main Street, guests enter into Toon Town populated by Mickey and his friends. Would you still put a castle at the end of this street or a totally different Toon-type structure?

Personally, I think retheming either Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom is out of the question. These styles were Walt's vision and are a part of our culture. However, I think if a new non-Magic Kingdom style park were built at either DL or WDW and this concept fit in to the overall park theme, it would be very popular. I believe this could have been built at DCA's new entrance rather than the copy of the Disney's Hollywood Studio entrance. This type of theme would complement Carsland and The Little Mermaid Ride. The theme of "Walt's California" could be kept to the "Hollywoodland" section. However, having a competing Toontown in DL would be confusing for guests.

I do think having a Toon Street USA theme replacing Main Street would work wonderfully in an overseas Magic Kingdom park. In Japan they really embrace the characters and it would help Disney introduce the characters in China where they are less known.

So lets put on our Imaginears - what are your thoughts about Toon Street USA?

 

[ADP]

Interesting. I guess I could see Town Square getting a makeover like this, but retheming Main St. Would drastically change the landscape of the park. It would be too big of a change at The Magic Kingdom (Orlando) and even Disneyland.

Trying it at a new park would be a much better idea. It would give Disney a chance to try it out without risking too much. Also, it would allow Disney to see what kind of reaction they get from their guests.