The Experience: Hell on Earth

The Trick: Creating the ultimate hot spot at Disneyland

There’s a tongue-in-cheek element to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. The attraction draws inspiration from the novel and the movie adaptation, but the final scene on the ride is its own creation. Imagineers chortled at the thought of a proper comeuppance for Mr. Toad, a man whose obsession with reckless driving led to his imprisonment.

In the book and the film, he managed to escape. At Disneyland, he’s…less fortunate. The wrong turn at the wrong moment causes the wild ride to end in tears. Mr. Toad suffers a head-on collision with a train. He doesn’t survive. Yes, this is the odd quirk of storytelling sends the rider straight to Hell! How very Disney, right?

While no one can know for sure why Walt and his team of Imagineers went so dark on this particular dark ride, Mr. Toad’s Hell is an unforgettable scene. The key is that Disney plays the scene for comedic effect. The judge who just sentenced you to prison is in Hell, too. In his new role as ultimate arbiter of souls, the judge is basically the same  save for his horns and more sinister pointing.

Image: DisneyTo create the effects of Hell, Imagineers didn’t have to work very hard. It’s one of the simplest tricks on any Disney attraction. They simply had to turn up the heat to make the place feel like a furnace…well, an eternal furnace. Other than that, the tricks are still the same: colorful paintings and a hellscape of a set.

Well, okay, there is ONE trick that’s a bit different. A fire-breathing green dragon ominously torments you with flame. Of course, it’s just backlit. Fire doesn’t shoot out or anything. The green dragon is the final ghoul before you escape from Hell and return to the Happiest Place on Earth, ending your wild ride safely.

Well, you’re safe from a physical perspective. You might be emotionally scarred by the cardboard cutouts that just attacked you and then damned you for eternity. Seriously, this ride isn’t what you’d expect from a Disney ride. I’m not sure that an Ichabod Crane/Headless Horseman attraction would have been darker in tone.