Panasonic outlines its involvement in Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway

Jan 31, 2019 in "Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway"

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Posted: Thursday January 31, 2019 9:23am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

In a recent update, Panasonic Corporation of North America has detailed some of its involvement in the upcoming Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, set to open fall 2019 at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway concept art

The electronics manufacturer entered into a partnership with Disney in 2016 to become the "Official Projection Technology" of Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida and the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.

"The specific visual requirements of Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway attraction require imaging systems that meet the highest technical requirements of precision color rendition and brightness. Panasonic's laser illuminated projectors do that extremely well," said Tom LaDuke, Principal Show Systems Designer, Walt Disney Imagineering. "We look forward to working with Panasonic to push technological boundaries that bring our guests to places only previously achieved in their imaginations."

"We are pleased to have the opportunity to once again provide Panasonic's cutting-edge projection technology for a new Disney Parks attraction, especially for the first-ever ride-through Mickey Mouse attraction," said Ron Martin, director, Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory, a unit of Panasonic Corporation of North America. "Panasonic is proud to help Disney Parks immerse their guests in the animated world of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse in a way that has never been done before."

Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway will take place in the Chinese Theater

Panasonic already maintains a significant technology presence at Disney Parks in attractions that include: Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage at Disneyland Park; Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure Park; Haunted Mansion and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom Park; Frozen Ever After and Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros at Epcot; Na'vi River Journey at Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park.

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TikibirdLandJul 26, 2021

A lot of talent represented in this call! Interesting to hear from those that worked on the project. Really wished they had shown concepts, sketches and tune snippets that were involved in their creative process.

DCBakerJul 25, 2021

Here's video of the event from the post above -

DCBakerJul 11, 2021

Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway: From Animation to Imagineering Ever wonder what it takes to turn a classic cartoon into an immersive experience at Walt Disney World Resort? Join Disney as we bring together Disney Television Animation and Walt Disney Imagineering to discuss the process of creating Mickey and friends’ first-ever ride-through attraction in Disney history, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. This history-making attraction features an original story based on the award-winning Mickey Mouse shorts and features favorite Disney cartoon characters Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, and Pluto. This panel includes Charita Carter (senior producer, Walt Disney Imagineering); Kevin Rafferty (retired Imagineer and executive creative director for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway); Paul Rudish (executive producer and supervising director, The Wonderful World of Disney); Christopher Willis (composer, The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway Parks attraction); and Elsa Chang (character designer, The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse and Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway Parks attraction). Tune in as they discuss how they were able to combine the two worlds of animation and Imagineering and turn them into the “Perfect Picnic.” Start time: Jul 25, 2021 11:00 am (GMT-07:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) End time: Jul 25, 2021 12:00 pm (GMT-07:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) https://www.eventeny.com/events/comicconhome-1456/?action=schedule-item&action_ops=7128

Andrew MJun 16, 2021

We were one of the lucky ones to experience the ride on Opening Day, the pre-show adds alot and that initial reveal after the explosion is fantastic. Glad it's back.

Jones14Jun 15, 2021

I don’t mind the differing views on Runaway Railway because for every moment any car misses, there’s another that they get to see instead, and (in my opinion), no car misses the meat of the experience. Missing the pre-show really put a damper, though, so I’m glad that’s back.

WondersOfLifeJun 15, 2021

That's terrible

CastAStoneJun 15, 2021

You do lol. But the first cars leave the room before the audio finishes in some scenes!

WondersOfLifeJun 15, 2021

I do say the same about Soarin. I disagree about journey into your imagination with figment, though. You get a great view of how bad that ride is from many angles.

Giss NericJun 15, 2021

This is such a great pre-show and it definitely adds to the overall experience of the ride. I forgot that this ride was just open for less than two weeks before the closures and nobody got to the see this pre-show until today.

CastAStoneJun 14, 2021

You could same the same about Soarin or Journey into Imagination with Figment or, depending on your perspective, any roller coaster. I don’t think it’s defending it to sort out what the variance in ride quality by seating is.

WondersOfLifeJun 14, 2021

Point being, I think it's ridiculous that any of you are defending a lazy slapped attraction with a "BuT WHicH ROw DiD yOu SIt In?" question. It shouldn't matter. Simple as that. The attraction is not that good as a result.

WondersOfLifeJun 14, 2021

You were not faced with a bunch of random black unthemed walls for a long period of time if you sat in the back row, front car, or whatever. lol If you're referring to gangster vs cowboy scene, that has nothing to do with it being a trackless ride. That has to do with a show scene. (I know you didn't say all that, though. But still.)