If you’ve been to Disneyland this year, or even before the pandemic closure, you’ve probably seen the enormous building under construction in Toontown, so big it’s visible from outside the park. That will hold Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, the only ride in either of Disneyland’s two parks to feature the mice as main characters, which is slated to open in 2023.

But recently, Disney announced that the new ride would come with a massive renovation of Mickey's Toontown, the least popular area in Disneyland (at least, according to the Disneyland Reddit), which is mostly for young kids. It will force a year-long closure of the entire land starting in March 2022, and come with some major changes.

Among those: the possible removal of Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, which eagle-eyed Disney fans noticed immediately was missing from the new Toontown when the renderings were released in November.

The ride, based on the 1988 movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” opened in 1994. It has recently undergone some renovations to remove racy scenes, removing Roger’s wife, Jessica Rabbit, as a damsel in distress and instead featuring her as a trenchcoat-clad detective.

“The updated Car Toon Spin storyline turns Jessica Rabbit into the newest private eye in Mickey’s Toontown on the lookout for Toon Patrol Weasels responsible for a sharp rise in crime,” the Orange County Register reported.

Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin has always been not quite what it seems: it looks like a kids ride, but, until recently, had surprisingly adult content once you were inside. Even beyond Jessica Rabbit’s portrayal, Baby Herman was shown smoking a cigar and there were characters with names like “Stupid.”

There were also problems extending to the ride queue itself. Reviewers regularly post experiences of getting in line with a short wait time posted outside, and then waiting significantly longer than expected.

“Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin is officially on my Disneyland blacklist,” a one-star reviewer on Yelp posted. “After riding it most recently about a week ago, I remembered why I never liked this ride to begin with. Like some other reviewers mentioned, the ride is jerky, creepy, and weird. It doesn't really have any rhyme or reason to it, and doesn't really remind me of the movie that much. However, that's not my main problem with this ride. No matter how long the estimated wait sign posted outside says this ride will take, I always end up getting trapped inside this dark, strangely lit ride for an hour or more. Waiting in line for this ride feels like neverending torture.”

“The last few times I entered, when the sign said 15 minutes … the line took 45 minutes to an hour, not due to a long line, but due to the line moving glacially slow,” another Yelp reviewer said. “You could be standing in the same place for up to five minutes without moving. I would often see people climbing over obstacles inside the building to bail out of the line.”

I’ve experienced the same thing myself many times — a much longer than expected wait for a ride that has an odd story line that doesn’t really line up with the movie’s plot, and doesn’t have much of a payoff at the end.

“The ride itself was all over the place. It was hard to determine what … was going on,” a two-star reviewer on TripAdvisor said. “Unless you have a lot of time on your hands I'd give this one a skip.”

Travel and Leisure ranked the ride No. 26 (of 29) in its Disneyland ride ranking in 2020.

More than any of that, though, the removal of the ride makes thematic sense. The rest of Toontown is for young kids, with character meet-and-greets at Mickey and Minnie’s houses, play areas where kids can run around while parents take a break and Gadget’s Go Coaster, a gentle roller coaster designed for smaller children to be able to ride.

"Disney will share details as work on Mickey’s Toontown evolves," a Disneyland official said when asked whether the park plans to keep Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin when the renovation is complete.

The new area, which Disney says will open in early 2023, will be fully aimed at families with younger kids. “Building on the legacy of Mickey’s Toontown, Imagineers are working to create some all-new experiences so families and young children can have more opportunities to play together inside Disneyland park,” Disney Parks Blog said. “The beloved Mickey’s Toontown will transform into a vibrant symphony of sights, sounds, and sensations. Focusing on today’s families with young children, Mickey’s Toontown will feature new play experiences, as well as open, grassy play spaces for everyone to unplug.”

But for right now, Disneyland is offering a new experience that lets people experience Toontown in a different way — and brings back one of the most-lamented in-park experiences that has been missing since the pandemic started. From January to March, guests can host private parties in Mickey Mouse’s house inside Toontown. Unlike some of the other private experiences in Disneyland, like the VIP tours that cost anywhere from $3,000 to $8,000 for a single park day and the $15,000 private dinner at 21 Royal, this one is surprisingly affordable.

During the 90-minute private party, up to 10 guests will have the run of Mickey’s house and will be able to participate in crafts, games and cupcake decorating. Afterwards, participants will “get quicker entry to Gadget’s Go Coaster at the end of your celebration,” Disneyland said.

The best part, though, is that people will be able to take photos with Mickey Mouse again, like they did before the pandemic. It will be the only place in the parks people will be able to get close to Mickey, or any character at all. Since Disneyland reopened in April, all of the character encounters have been socially distanced, with dividers separating the characters from the guests.

For some people, just the ability to hug Mickey Mouse will be worth the $350 price tag for the party. But let’s look at that math: with 10 people, the experience breaks down to $35 each. Considering Lightning Lane access to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance costs $20 per person to skip the line for a single ride — and in light of the price increases throughout the company this year — it’s a surprisingly affordable add-on to a Disneyland day, especially for the unique opportunity to have a private experience inside a usually public attraction.