Dream It! Screw It! “collects†30 years worth of notes, sketches, and plans for Disney park attractions conceived by Walt Disney’s idiot cousin, Dipp Disney. Here is one of the failed Imagineer’s most notable projects, which never came to fruition.
Year Developed: 1988
Intended Destination: Mickey’s ToonTown, Disneyland
Original Assignment: Develop a theme park attraction centered around the smash hit film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Attraction Summary: In this live multimedia show, witness sinister Judge Doom play judge, jury, and ultimately executioner to a series of unfortunate cartoon characters.
Dippspiration: Dipp loved the movies, but was now sleeping through more and more of them. He only managed to stay awake through one scene of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and was surprised by how dark it was for a Disney feature. Still, if the public wanted a terrifying experience at Disneyland, who was Dipp to deny them?
Theme: This idea was based on the sequence where Judge Doom grabs an innocent, squeaky cartoon shoe and drops him into “the dip,†murdering him. In this attraction, guests watch Doom murder toon after toon in person, “fulfillin’ the modern theme park family’s desire to see the movies come to life!â€
Building Exterior: An intimidating gray stone fortress dubbed ToonTown Jerk Jail.
Line Queue: Guests walk through the prison, passing the cells of dangerous criminal toons awaiting execution, like The Wicked Queen (Attempted Murder), Mr. Toad (Vehicular Manslaughter), Robin Hood and his Merry Men (Domestic Terrorism).
The Attraction: Baloo the Prison Warden (a costumed character) escorts guests to their seats in the Execution Room’s viewing chamber. A cast member comes out playing Judge Doom, and using projections on the glass, it looks like he’s actually interacting with cartoon characters, dropping them into the dip. Judge Doom pretends to hold a frightened, struggling mop from Fantasia and says, “For the crime of making the floor wet before I started walking, causing me to trip in a comical manner, I hereby sentence you to… the dip.†Then the cast member mimes shoving the mop into an empty vat, while the screen projects the mop shaking violently in terror. Dipp explains that Doom only executes toons who caused him mild discomfort that day. “That’s what makes him a bad man in my book. He’d kill Jiminy Cricket fer whistlin’ too loud or Thumper fer lookin’ at him funny. And with this attraction, he’ll get his chance!â€
Feedback: Disney chief Michael Eisner said he liked parts of this idea, to the shock and amazement of the other Imagineers. (Even Dipp wasn’t sure about this one, though he enjoyed saying the word “dip†so many times.) Specifically, Eisner liked the idea of “a scary show that’ll terrify children. Maybe some kind of alien encounter? Whatever it is, make it violent!â€
Geoffrey Golden is the co-founder and publisher of humor book imprint The Devastator. He’s the author of Dream It! Screw it!
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