The folks at Disneyland won't be upset if their biggest new attraction in 20 years turns out to be a big pie in the face.
After all, it's Toontown. Nearly two years in the making, the 3-acre cartoon community opens Tuesday with all the subtlety of a whoopee cushion."Everything is a gag," said Dave Burkhart, the park's senior show producer.
Inspired by Robert Zemeckis' 1988 movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," Toontown offers a hands-on tour without the movie's sinister surrealism.
"You are the cartoon character," Burk-hart said. "You get to participate in all those cliches."
Wise-guy mailboxes talk back. Goofy's watermelons squirt water. What happens when you push that TNT plunger? Oops, there goes the Fireworks Factory. And look out for the falling safe! Whew, that was close.
"You've got to understand the mythology," Burkhart explained during a recent tour.
Mickey Mouse, it turns out, has been living for years in this northern corner of Disneyland, just behind Fantasyland. Fleeing the Hollywood hubbub, he set up movie studios in his barn and talked his friends into moving here.
So Minnie Mouse lives right next door. You can lounge in her living room and eavesdrop on her answering machine. There's cheese in the fridge: gouda and not-so-gouda.
Minnie left the radio on, tuned to WCKY.
These folks didn't even hide the dirty laundry. A plumber's plunger washing machine pounds a load of Mickey's three-fingered gloves on his back porch.
Guests get a tour of Mickey's studios, look in on Mickey, Goofy and Donald Duck in a projection booth and see clips of Mickey movies like "Steamboat Willie." The mouse's makeup for that 1928 classic, you'll note in the dressing room, is black and white, of course.
Restrooms? They're in Goofy's Gas Station, where fish are swimming in those old-time gas pumps.
Visitors can also expect autographs and pictures with Mickey and the others.
"It's one giant photo op," said Joe Lanzisero, the senior concept designer. "Eye candy," Burkhart called the collection of curvy "Toon Victorian" buildings.
There are rides, including a cockamamie trolley with a big windup key. A little roller coaster opens Tuesday with the rest of Toontown, but Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin won't open until late summer.
Mostly, it's a place to stroll and look for surprises.
Executives wouldn't say how much the new attraction cost, although some published reports put the price tag at $100 million. It's the biggest addition at the 37-year-old theme park since "Bear Country" (now "Critter Country") opened more than 20 years ago.
But they're quick to add that the park didn't increase its ticket prices.