Trying on Toontown
Here’s a peek at new employee costumes in the soon-to-reopen land
Disneyland employees working in Mickey’s Toontown will wear new costumes with a hand-drawn look that mimics the artistic brushstrokes and bold color palette of a Disney animator when the cartoon-inspired land reopens in a few weeks.
“The cast members are part of the story,” Disneyland senior costume designer Joe Kucharski said. “We really wanted to bring our cast members into the toon world.”
The reimagined, cartoon-styled land debuting March 19 will add new interactive play areas for young children and refresh existing attractions alongside the new Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway dark ride, which is already open.
I got to try on the new mix-and-match costumes coming to Mickey’s Toontown during a fitting session for cast members — Disneyland parlance for employees.
I mixed and matched six costume combinations from the new collection during a tour of the Toontown cast member preview center in a backstage building just a short walk from cartoon-themed land.
I found the lightweight, stretchy and moisture-wicking costumes to be extremely comfortable. I could wear them all day, and wished I could take a few outfits home to lounge around the house while watching TV.
Nobody will mistake Toontown workers for Disneyland visitors when the land returns — even if no two employees are wearing matching outfits.
Disneyland boasts that there are more than 1,000 outfit combinations for Toontown workers to try out. The fashion options include tunic, henley, cowl neck, button down and boatneck tops in blue, purple, orange, pink, red and yellow. Cast members can choose among straight leg or curvy cut green chinos, red joggers, blue shorts and pink skirts.
Yellow or green vests and blue cardigans offer an added layer of warmth. A cold weather jacket is still in development. Baseball caps and wide-brimmed hats come in blue, yellow and teal. Accessories include kerchief scarves and a pink necklace.
Toontown employees can accent their work outfits with white, blue, yellow or red shoes rather than the standard black.
The costume colors pay tribute to the familiar wardrobes of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto, who call Toontown home.
The animation inspirations that designers drew upon for the new costumes can be seen in the details meant to evoke a hand-drawn look: enlarged stitching, raised embroidery and cartoon-style highlights and shadows.
“Things can be worn any way that the cast can dream up,” Kucharski said during a backstage interview at Disneyland. “They can pair anything together. That’s the key to the mix and match: Anything goes with anything.”
Toontown workers can wear any costume combination they want at any attraction, play area, shop or eatery in the refreshed land. The lone exception: Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway employees will wear dedicated costumes tied to the backstory for the new dark ride.
Toontown workers are encouraged to construct their wardrobe to match the inworld backstory they create for themselves, much as the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge crew does with its mix-and-match costumes. Toontowners can belong to any of the four in-story societies that volunteer on civic projects in the cartoon town — including the Toontown Handy Helpers, Mouse Ears Society, Junior Woodchucks of the World and Toontown Hysterical Society.
Cast members trying on costumes at the backstage preview center had the option to hold up paddles showing their society allegiance during photo ops.