Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin has been at Disneyland since 1994, but it’s hardly a top attraction anymore. For starters, kids these days don’t seem too interested in the late ‘80s classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit. And c’mon, it’s no Peter Pan’s Flight, but it’s still too beloved by Disneyland visitors to get rid of it. So, Disney’s imagineers decided to give the ride a new spin. This time, the focus won’t be on Roger Rabbit; instead, it’ll be on the iconic Jessica Rabbit. The attraction’s update will be the latest in a series of updates for Disney Parks.
Disney released an image made to look like a newspaper clipping, teasing more information about the ride’s updates. It reads:
Citing the recent return of the Toon Patrol weasels as the main driver behind the recent sharp rise in crime statistics throughout Mickey’s Toontown, Jessica Rabbit has determined it is past time for her to throw her fedora into the ring by starting her own private investigations service. While taking inspiration from longtime friend and legendary toon detective Eddie Valiant, Jessica shows that she certainly means business.
Jessica’s fabled acting career has made her one of the most recognized stars in the maroon cartoon family of performers. Now she is using her celebrity to speak out.
“Enough is enough,” Jessica was heard exclaiming last week. “The good toons of our neighborhoods are afraid to come out at night, and it is getting worse by the day! Those weasels are up to something big… I am going to find out what it is, and put a stop to it!”
Watch out weasels, your reign of terror is over!
This is a promising change, considering the ride didn’t fully embrace how big of a pop culture icon the character who’s “not bad but drawn that way” is. The original ride took you on a trippy trip around Toontown on Lenny The Cab (the cousin of Benny The Cab from the movie). Jessica Rabbit was seen briefly, but she was always the damsel in distress. First, Smarty tied her up in the trunk of his car. Then when we saw her again, she’d managed to break her arms free while still being wrapped in the rope, holding a mallet that she used to whack Wheezy. The news of the ride’s update comes after the scene where Jessica Rabbit is tied up in the car was recently removed and replaced with barrels of cartoon-erasing paint thinner Dip.
Given the nature of those damsel in distress scenes, this update to the ride is likely part of Disney’s initiative to change problematic aspects of classic rides. Splash Mountain is being changed to a The Princess And The Frog ride due to it being based on the racist 1946 film Song Of The South and the Jungle Cruise also recently removed animatronics that feature racist depictions of Indigenous people.