When Disney Took Toontown to the Mall (Ep. 119)

Jim Hill and Lauren Hersey kick off October with a look at Toys "R" Us and the surprising return of large-scale pop-up retail, including a connection to Disney's own limited-time stores. Then Jim digs into Disney's history of taking theme park promotion on the road, from the enormous Ear Force One hot-air balloon and the Lim Mouse Zine to Mickey's Mouse-O-Rail and an eight-story inflatable Maleficent. The main event is the 1993 Mickey's Toontown mall tour, which brought Disney characters and elaborate installations directly to shoppers across the West Coast.

NEWS

• Toys "R" Us prepares to expand its physical retail presence with 120 new shops ahead of the holiday season.

• Lauren explores the Go Retail Group connection between Toys "R" Us locations and Disney's recent limited-time retail stores.

• The rise of "kidulting" helps explain why major toy and entertainment brands are taking another look at brick-and-mortar retail.

• Jim checks out The Art of Gravity Falls, a new coffee-table book celebrating Alex Hirsch's enduring animated series.

FEATURE

• How the 1993 Mickey's Toontown mall tour promoted Disneyland's newest land by bringing Mickey, Minnie, and elaborate sets directly to shoppers.

• Jim traces Disney's oversized promotional stunts back to Ear Force One, a nearly 100-foot-tall Mickey Mouse hot-air balloon created for Walt Disney World's 15th anniversary.

• The Lim Mouse Zine turned a dramatically stretched Lincoln Town Car into a traveling Disney-MGM Studios publicity machine.

• Disneyland's Mickey's Mouse-O-Rail transformed part of an actual monorail into a road-going promotional vehicle for the park's 35th anniversary.

• An eight-story inflatable Maleficent helped promote the nighttime spectacular that eventually became Fantasmic!, even as Disney repeatedly changed the show's name.