MyWDW Remembers: Mickey's Toontown Fair

In 1988, Mickey Mouse was turning 60 years old - and it would be remiss of Disney to allow that to pass without including something in their theme parks. In Walt Disney World, Mickey's Birthday Land, set in the town of Duckburg, was the center of the celebration. It was home to a show called Minnie's Surprise Party, which consisted of the main Disney cast preparing for Mickey's surprised birthday party, as well as Grandma Duck's farm, which housed a petting zoo as well as a Disney wonder - Minnie Moo, a cow who had the distinctive tri-circle Hidden Mickey mark on her side.

When Mickey's landmark birthday year came to a close, Mickey's Birthday Land became Mickey's Starland, and became home of the stars of the Disney Afternoon shows DuckTales, Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers, Tale Spin, and Gummi Bears, including a new show called Mickey's Magical TV World. This area lasted for several years in that form, before its final transformation into Mickey's Toontown Fair, based on the extremely popular Disneyland area Toontown (itself an amalgamation of the Duckburg of the old Donald Duck comics and the imaginary district of Hollywood featured in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?). Mickey's house was given a bit of a refurbishment, and Minnie moved next door. Grandma Duck's farm was transformed into Goofy's Barnstormer - a small roller coaster themed around Goofy's ill-fated attempt to perform daredevil tricks in a biplane. Nearby was Donald's houseboat, the S.S. Miss Daisy, which replaced the theater that housed the shows of the previous iterations of the area. What happened to Minnie Moo, you may ask? She was moved to Fort Wilderness until she passed away in 2001.

For a number of years, Mickey's Toontown Fair was the home in the parks of the main Disney characters - and easy place to locate Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto, along with some of the other characters. In order to allow each guest to spend some quality time with the big cheese himself, there was a queue that began after touring Mickey's cartoonish house, and each family passed through one at a time to greet Mickey in the judge's tent of the country fair themed area, with plenty of time for autographs, pictures, and magical memories.

The entire area was heavily laden with sight-gags and interactive fun - a cake rose and fell in Minnie's oven when kid's played with the controls, Donald's ship bell and whistle sounded when the proper ropes and buttons were pushed and pulled, among other fun little interactive playthings. In 2011, the area closed down to prepare for the incoming changes to Fantasyland, changed from a county fair to a marvelous Storybook Circus, featuring a renovated Dumbo ride with two separate spinning wheels of the famous elephant, a sideshow hosted by Pete, and Goofy's Barnstormer slightly rethemed to the Great Goofini - Goofy's circus stage name for his aerial antics.