New Unofficial Guide Podcast Episode: Disneyland’s Toontown, With Jim Hill

Episode 32 in the Unofficial Guide Disney Dish series is available. iTunes link / Direct MP3

In this show, Jim and I walk through Disneyland’s Toontown and discuss how it came to be built.  As soon as the early 1960’s, Disney realized that guests wanted to interact more with their favorite characters.  Things really took off in the early 1980’s, though, when inexpensive videotape recorders began to replace 8 mm film recorders for home movies, and families no longer had to worry about the cost of filming longer and longer interactions with the characters.

Toontown is also one of the rare Disney theme park features that moved west from Disney World, instead of the other way around.  Jim talks about how Mickey’s 60th birthday party finally kickstarted the development of Toontown, and how the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit gave Disneyland it’s own version of the land.

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Links to Recent Episodes

Disneyland’s Toontown, with Jim Hill (Episode 32) — iTunes / Direct MP3

A History of Walt Disney World’s Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights (Bonus Episode) — iTunes / Direct MP3

Disneyland’s Fantasyland, with Jim Hill (Episode 31) — iTunes / Direct MP3

Disneyland’s Critter Country, with Jim Hill (Episode 30) — iTunes / Direct MP3

Disneyland’s Frontierland, with Jim Hill (Episode 29) — iTunes / Direct MP3

Disneyland’s New Orleans Square, with Jim Hill (Episode 28) — iTunes / Direct MP3

Disneyland’s Adventureland, with Jim Hill (Episode 27) — iTunes / Direct MP3

Disneyland’s Main Street, with Jim Hill (Episode 26) — iTunes / Direct MP3

How Disneyland Really Got Built, with Jim Hill (Episode 25) — iTunes / Direct MP3