On my recent trip to the Disneyland Resort, I did something that until fairly recently, you weren’t able to take advantage of. I paid a post-fireworks visit to Mickey’s Toontown.
For those of you unfamiliar with the location of Toontown in Disneyland Park, it’s at the very back of the park and is just in front of where the nightly fireworks are launched from. Historically, the land closed just before the fireworks started for safety reasons and didn’t reopen until the next day.
With the updates to Toontown and the addition of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway making that land actually relevant again, things needed to change.
The schedule for the weekend I was there had the entrance to Toontown closing at 8:00pm in order to clear all of the queues before fireworks started at 9:30pm. The land then reopened at 10:00pm, or when the fire marshal said it was safe. These times could change, especially on off-season weeknights when the park closes early.
I had not planned on visiting Mickey’s Toontown, but sometimes things just fall into place. I arrived at Disneyland Park just before fireworks on a Friday night. As expected, Main Street, U.S.A. was PACKED, so I headed toward the “it’s a small world” area, which usually has a nice alternate view of the show.
I was not in a hurry to get anywhere after the fireworks, so I just hung out in the area as the crowds cleared. To kill time…and because I really needed it…I had my first Disneyland churro in a very long time. As always, it was a delicious late-night snack.
Once I realized that Toontown was reopening after the fireworks, I decided to get in line. I was nowhere near the front of the crowd, so I really didn’t know how likely it would be that I would get to experience Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway with a reasonable wait.
Just before 10:00pm, the magical gates to Toontown reopened and I followed the crowd heading directly to Runaway Railway. I didn’t check the wait time at the entrance, but assumed I would be waiting a while. I was wrong.
The queue moved constantly through the building, so there wasn’t much time to check out the movie memorabilia and before I knew it, I was boarding the attraction. Of course, I loved it!
I checked my watch as I exited the attraction into the requisite gift shop and it was just 10:19pm, about 20 minutes after I first entered Toontown.
After a quick look at the gift shop, I took a walk around the area and it was still fairly busy, with all of the attractions still open. Mickey and Minnie stood outside of their respective homes greeting guests with a moderate wait.
My last-second decision had worked out nicely for me and I was able to experience one of the best new attractions at Disneyland without much of a wait at all.
This isn’t necessarily a secret or a “hack,” but if you’ve had trouble finding a reasonable wait time for Runaway Railway during your visit, you might want to give a late-night visit to Toontown a try.
Have you visited Mickey’s Toontown after the fireworks? How was your experience?
Tom is the former host and producer of the Disneyland Edition podcast, and is now providing Disneyland content from the parks. He enjoys traveling with friends and spending time with family, including his son and grandson. In his spare time he volunteers with Scouts BSA and Cub Scouts, and help found his son's former Cub Scout Pack. His favorite Disneyland attraction is Space Mountain.
