Downtown Toontown

Downtown Toontown at Disneyland is chock full of cartoony fun and knee-slapping gags. In fact, it's one of my favorite places in the park to just walk around and enjoy the details. Look at the City Hall, for example. The clock tower features more than the traditional bell (which itself is cross-eyed from being hand rung by a pair of mallets). There are also fireworks, screaming whistles and a pair of cannons to help mark the hour. I also love the exaggerated proportions of everything from the columns and lampposts to the Baby Herman-size stogie pictured on the "No Smoking" signs.

Details like this abound throughout the downtown area of the land, where (for a laugh) some things are taken literally. There's the Official Seal of Toontown - both emblem and marine mammal - and the Camera Shop, complete with old-fashioned bellows and a little birdie.

Everywhere in Mickey's Toontown, guests are encouraged to reach out and touch things. You never know what might happen! Ringing the bell at the Glass Factory might just startle someone inside, resulting in a toon-tastic catastrophe. Nearby, grabbing the doorknob to the Power House provides "shocking" results, and you can only imagine the things that go on inside the Fireworks Factory.

It's a subtle gag, but I especially enjoy the sign for the Planning Commission, carved without the appropriate level of planning!

For more Mickey's Toontown fun, check out this article from last year. Or better yet, head out to Disneyland and take some time to explore on your own. You'll surely get caught up in the wackiness of it all!