April 14th Trip Report

The day at the Resort for the final day of the 25th Anniversary started dark and wet. I met SuperDry once again with his friend at Monsoon Cafe in Ikspiari. Our host that day was Mr X from the LaughingPlace.com boards. We used to meet up at neighboring Planet Hollywood but it had closed down the day before because of a court injunction that came out in the Walt Disney Company's favor. We had a fun time at Monsoon before checking out Roti's House, home of the Maihama Harvest Moon Brewery.

We all split up after that. I went into TDL and checked that the Monsters attraction was closed a day before its official opening. I continued across Tomorrowland and went into Toontown in the rain. The Jolly Trolley was in its final day and more than the usual number of people were in line to ride it one more time. I stayed in the area taking pictures, video and talking to Cast Members and other Guests. It seems like a lot of former CM's also made the visit as they reminisced about the attraction's 13-year run.

It was now about 6 o'clock and I was getting hungry so I went over to my favorite snack eatery, The Lucky Nugget, and had me some friend chicken. Yummy! The Park was pretty empty so I made a run of the Fantasyland attractions. Then I spent the last hour in a corner of Tomorrowland Terrace Restaurant killing time until 9:30, then made my way back to Toontown. Check out our previous post on the end of the Jolly Trolley.

After wiping away some tears...oh, I mean raindrops, I walked through World Bazaar. A number of CM's were there to say their goodbyes to the last of the Guests. It was a very nice time and proper way to end the celebrations this time. In the above photo, you can see a group of them posing for Guests. I finally exited the Park at about 11:00pm in the cold rain. I stayed at a local hotel that night for only ¥6,000 (US$60.00) for the room.

Attraction tally: Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White's Adventures, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Haunted Mansion, it's a small world

Restaurant tally: The Lucky Nugget Cafe, Tomorrowland Terrace Restaurant

Jolly Trolley's Final Run

The Jolly Trolley had its final run last Tuesday, April 14th. The Toontown attraction closed permanently after 13 years with a tribute from its many Cast Members and Guest. The day was marred by rain but that didn't stop more than 100 people waiting until half an hour after the Park closed to see the two trolley trains taken into the barn. We have full coverage with pictures and video of the final moments.

The train that ran from Mickey Avenue to Downtown Toontown was reportedly closed because of safety issues and operational costs. The ride opened along with the Toontown premiere on April 15th, 1996. The last TDL attraction to close was Starcade in Novermber 2007 and the next one scheduled to close is Mickey Mouse Revue on May 25th.