Save Mr. Toad's Wild Ride!

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Gang-Banging Weasels

Click the armed weasels above to learn more about The Great and Powerful Toad.

Mr. Toad Mr. Toad Electronic Toad Hall - The Middle

"And now the weasels were closing in; I could SMELL the ugly brutes."
--Hunter S. Thompson
Now with more than 1150 submissions from Toad fans all over the world.
(Comments are not in chronological order. Not even close.)

(Click here to read the first 500 Electronic Toad Hall entries.)
(Click here to read the second 500 Electronic Toad Hall entries.)
(Click here to read the most recent Electronic Toad Hall entries.)

We are no longer accepting new comments.
Thanks to everyone who participated.
From: Sarah Stevens <sssharkie@aol.com>

They did a short story about Mr Toad's demise on my local TV station.

Thanks to you, I did know about his horrible end when I went in May, so I was able to ride with more appreciation than I normally would.... My boyfriend is just happy we went when we did, cause I have been talking about going back to ride Mr Toad's Wild Ride since we met. Seven years of whining..... and if I had never gone.... oh the horror!!!! He would have changed his phone number.

Anyway, you put up a good fight. I tried to do my part also. Let's just say I too have no need to return to Disney..... One of the last unique attractions will be gone... I hope they can sleep at night!!!!! sigh......
From: John Deans <jbdean2000@aol.com>

Thanks for all that you did to try to save this treasure. As a kid I rode it in the 1st weeks of the opening, and always rode it on every visit over the years. It is truly sad that the powers that be have let such a classic meet this fate. As I now live in Arizona, I was not able to attend on that final day, but my thoughts were with you and your group. Wishing I could have been there, and admiring you for your efforts. For this I will always consider you a friend, indeed a friend to all of us who found some much joy from this atrraction over the years. Once again, many, many thanks for a fight well fought.
From: Amelia Capalbo <capalboa@mvalaw.com>

I'm another Toad fan who appreciates your work during the past year. As soon as I read the article in the Orlando paper last October, I found your website. I was happy to see that so many others loved Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. As a child, it was my favorite ride too and I never grew out of it. I vacation at Disney World as often as I can. I've always had the same "ritual" when I arrive at the Magic Kingdom - I go directly to Mr. Toad and ride both sides immediately. My next trip is in December and I'm not even sure I can stand to go to the Magic Kingdom this time.

Thanks for trying.
From: Julie Young <featuremom@aol.com>

Thanks for your diligence in saving Toad. We love him, the ride, the book, the video, etc. Keep it up! I just sent Disney World e-mail a searing treatise on how quality is slipping, merchandise tie-ins are ruling decisions, parades are nothing more than movie promos, Main Street is a big long Disney Store, etc. Thanks again!
From: Robert Cota <realgenius@mindless.com>

I am all for the cause.
From: tenplanten@aol.com

Hells yeah I wanna save Mr. Toads Wild Ride Sign Me up!!!!!

Oh man I just read further and saw that they had already closed the ride. Man, what'll they do next?
From: Mark McCaustland <mcluddite@yahoo.com>

There was a story in today's San Francisco Chronicle---in the business section, no less---regarding your campaign against the evil folks at Disney. I can't believe they'd replace Mr. Toad with Winnie-the-passive-aggressive-Pooh, but stranger things have happened.
From: Morgan Wenderoth <awender@bellsouth.net>

Save the toad!
From: Lindlee B. Norvell <lnorvel@comp.uark.edu>

I understand that I am much too late on this account, but I do have a six year old daughter, and I still wanted to register my opposition to the closing of this ride.
From: A.J. Sinclair <adam20@concentric.net>

As a student of political science (formerly a UM student, to be exact), I have a penchant for lost causes. I pity the poor frog who has been run over in the dead of night by the Disney corporate machine, piloted by Michael Eisner.

I feel that, before too long, the people of the Walt Disney Company will have so much power that Peter Jennings will end up wearing one of those Disney name tags that all the "cast members" at the theme parks wear.

Once again, I salute the poor frog, and all the other Disney attractions that have fallen by the wayside since my first visit there in 1979. (The 20,000 League Under the Sea Ride, among others)
From: Jen <stephens@eclipse.net>

I wanna save Mr. Toad's Wild Ride!!!!!!

I used to live in Florida, that's one my fav rides, even though I'm a little older now.

Save Mr. Toad!!!!!!

[...moments later...]

never mind

i didn't know it already closed

i truly wish i was there to take that final ride.

i didn't know that last year was gonna be my last time on that ride.

this story, your story, made me cry, it's a very upsetting story for disney goers and I.

thank you for trying to save a truly wonderful toad, your attempts will be remembered by me.

Once again, thanks.
From: B. Brown <bdbk7@aol.com>

I loved Mr. T!!

Is nothing sacred? We are still mourning the end of the Main Street Electrical Parade in Disneyland, and I preferred the old, low tech "It's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" at Disney Land. What's next...removing the carousel??????

Keep up your protest!

Thank you for all your hard work!
From: Chris Neuenschwander <chris.neuenschwander@jacksonthornton.com>

viva la toad
From: John P. Maloney <maloneyj@bellatlantic.net>

From 1980 to 1987, I was an employee at Disneyland in California. Darkish times, but not as bad as the past couple of years, which has seen the unannounced ripping out of the Skyway, the Motorboat Cruise (a ride unique to Disneyland), Adventure thru Inner Space (ditto... okay, so that was in about 1985...), the complete redo of the soundtrack to it's a small world (now it is all in English), the PeopleMover, and the venerable Circlevision 360.... and Disney recently announced a plan to replace the Submarine Voyage with something "more up to date"! Please send me a bunch of Save Toad cards...
From: Kathy <ksmcgraw@aol.com>

What a shame that the ride won't be there to commemorate the anniversary [of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad]!!!!!!!!!!!
From: John O'Hare <johare@worldnet.att.net>

My family and I bought seasonal passes on Sunday and rode Mr. Toad twice that day and returned to ride twice more on Monday...the last day. My last ride was at about 6:30 or so on the right side. I rode in one car with my 4 year old son and my wife rode in the car behind with my 18 month old. What was interest was when I got off and waited to take a picture, a photographer for the Orlando Sentinel snapped about 20 pictures of my wife and youngest son as their car exited. I thought for sure it would have been in the paper today, but unfortunately they decided to use a picture of another family? :-(

Anyway, thanks for trying to save the ride. I rode it for the first time back in about '72 when I was about 9 years old. It was one of my strongest memories of our trip to Disney World.
From: Anonymous <address withheld by request>

Please suggest to your visitors that they ask Disney to relocate the Pooh ride to Animal kingdom, where there no really great rides. The integrity of Fantasyland is in danger if this ride is located here.
From: suferrrrr3@aol.com

i live in west palm beach florida, and woke up to the news of toad being destroyed, as well as the fateful news of 20,000 leagues, which was my fav. ride. I am so sorry that your efforts did not seem to help the toad, but in a way it did, no one will forget the ride.
From: Marc Chamness <sircalmar@home.com>

Let me help save Toad's Wild Ride.
From: The Trayburns of TN <trayburn@dekalb.net>

Please know that we all appreciate your efforts to save this historic/loveable ride.
From: Tristan Ward <trippermm@hotmail.com>

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I GLADLY SUPPORT ALL TOADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mr toad's wild ride is the only refuge from the constant giddiness of the rest of the park. don't get me wrong, i love the mouse - but sometimes a teen's or mom's brain can't handle all that damned happiness. we need a little dark humour to make us laugh at ourselves again and relax us for the 6 hours AFTER the goofy luncheon. it is the only ride that I MUST go on EVERY time i am there. i've ridden mr toad 25 times in my 33 years and it's right up there with "i've watched starwars yadda, yadda, yadda..." as a party topic. ya see, too many cool memories to trash a disney icon.
From: Susan Granby <ggranby1@tampabay.rr.com>

I am the mother of the little girl who was calling "bye-bye Toad..." at the Magic Kingdom on that ill-fated day.

About three days ago we were in Atlanta (Thanks to Hurricane Georges) and took my husband's grandmother to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. They have several LARGE metal toad statues placed throughout the park. He is usually sitting on a bench reading. My daughter saw them and was waving and calling "Hi Toad!". My older daughter asked me if this is where Mr. Toad had come to live since they closed his old house....(*sniff*)

Just thought you'd appreciate that one.
From: drbella@aol.com

Need any help...just ask
From: Chris Cornell <ccornell@napco.com>

I just want to be the millionth person to thank you for everything you did. Your work has been an inspiration.

I am the maintainer of the official Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan site (www.mst3kinfo.com), and we've already been through one cancellation, when I thought the thing I liked most had been taken away, so I can relate. And now, though it's been renewed for another season on Sci-Fi Channel, I am starting to dread what will happen when that season ends.

Your graceful report has been guidance to me.
From: Amy Meldgin <amy.meldgin@cwi.cablew.com>

I heard you on WLUP in Chicago this morning. I agree....Mr Toad's Wild Ride is classic!

I am a major Pooh fan, but isn't this (Disney) World big enough for both of them!
From: Candace Drimmer <drimmer@mail.internet.com.mx>

Just read of the death of The Ride. As Holmes had The Woman, for me this was the only reason to go to any amusement park...which Disneyland is. Just dressed up differently.

I know I'm late to the cause (though I have been a fan of Toad since I was 7-years-old...only 41 years ago), but living in Mexico City information recently from the USA has been more about that other toad, in the white house. We (I) voted for him, believing our vote of confidence would turn him into a prince...go figure.

Anyhow...yell at Eisner for me. Glad my friend ...who'd always wanted to work at Disney...just quit after getting her Duck pin (5 years).

I am appalled... and saddened. I was 7 when I discovered Toad and his insanity. Felt right at home. As an adult (alleged) I've lived in 7 countries in 12 moves in 25 years...always felt like Toad's ride to me.

My husband is lovely, but hates Disneyland. I dragged him to Toad and he was kind and enjoyed it (for my sake)...but now. We've no reason to return, right?

Just read Jef Moskot's piece in a local English-newspaper ...pity.

Long live the Toad!!! and down with Eisner's greed.
From: Jamie Bonfanti <jbonfanti@att.com>

I think it is terrible that they closed down the ride.
From: Kevin Graham <kwg105@psu.edu>

Here's some tidbits from the Disneyanna convention in relation to toad.

BTW, I was there supporting toad on it's last night. And the sound of those trash cans hitting the entrance were particularily eerie.

The [Toad ride vehicle] sold for like 16 grand at the auction, and when it came on the screen. There was a large group booing them for closing the ride. Your feelings were definately shared with the Disney faithfuls.

There is a sketch for sale in the gallery store yesterday only. It was labelled, "Mr. Toad's Last Ride". And had a sketch of toad, the horse riding the car. And it was dated with the date of the closure. $35. Another way for disney to make money off of things. A true disgrace.
From: Jon Gleich <johng98@mindspring.com>

I must admit that I'm a little late in getting in on this. The truth is that I just learned about the destruction of my very favorite Magic Kingdom ride yesterday. When I heard the news, I was truly affected.

We are distraught over the demolition of one of our fondest childhood memories.

Long live Mr. Toad and his wildest of rides.
From: Dorothy Cassetta <dcassetta@aol.com>

I can't believe my favorite Fantasyland ride is being replaced by Pooh!!!
From: Carolyn Coen <csq14@hotmail.com>

I'm sending ALL best wishes and intentions for the success of the SaveTheToad movement. After all, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride has been my own (and ONLY) favorite ride since I first went to Disneyland (at the age of 27) in 1966!

Besides, my partner, Kevin, missed it on his only visit to Disneyland and I insist that he be given every opportunity to appreciate these moments of pure joy completely without diminishment. I simply cannot adequately TELL him about it!
From: Linda Ireson <juliad415@aol.com>

We grew up riding that ride and we loved it.

Thank you so much.
From: Neil Schuman <marshotel420@compuserve.com>

I was very upset to hear about one of my favorite attractions closing. We always thought it was so cool that Disney had a ride that "killed" the rider at the end!
From: David Miller <davidm@snip.net>

I am interested in buying a shirt before those b@$%*#&s at Disney make that ride nothing but a memory.
From: Jeanne Burch <jburch@sunstroke.sdsu.edu>

Congrats on your campaign to save the WDW toad; it was a noble effort.
From: Deirdre Reinert <deirdre.reinert@vmmc.org>

I read about how they f--ked up the Tiki Room (on your site) after I sent off the Email. That made me start to cry, on top of the other depressing Disneyland news. Somehow the way they're "updating" it is worse than if they just closed it down. Also heard about the submarine ride. If it ain't broke don't fix it!

I'll keep plugging away with those postcards...
From: Kat Bennett <eltband@usa.net>

Heard the interview on NPR this morning and whipped off an email to Disney.

I hope your campaign in Orlando will be successful. Good luck.
From: Robert Brotherton <robertb@keytech.com>

Like millions of others I was disturbed by Mr. Toad's demise (I'll bet Walt wouldn't have allowed it). Perhaps a new campaign would be in order to possibly resurrect Mr. Toad. One example, perhaps an enhanced version of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride could be appropriately placed in London in World Showcase at Epcot. I believe a poll would provide an interesting array of ideas and support.
From: Justin Miller <miller.2421@osu.edu>

Brodie (Jason Lee) said it best in "Mallrats" when he said, "Be fair, alright! Everyone wants Mr. Toad's Wild Ride."
From: Shawn, Mario, Chris, Jerry, and Kenny <valekjax@aol.com>

where oh where has my little toad gone?! even pooh wouldn't like this idea.... can walt really rest in peace knowing that disney is selling out for the almighty dollar? we have enough pooh!! seriously, please consider keeping mr. toad around, the ride is an original piece of disney themepark history, it is timeless. captain eo yes, but mr. toad NO!!!!!!
From: William J. Koenitzer <nitz@futuresouth.com>

Why would anyone think of taking down the most popular ride in the park? I am 12 years old and I think that this idea of tearing down my favorite ride is an outrage, and must be stopped. This is my parents favorite ride as well. They are both 42 and they are refusing to go to Disney World again until the ride is restored to its original Toady state. Pooh sucks!! How could you think of replacing Good ol' Mister Toad with that 2-bit piece of yellow fabric.
From: Mrs. B. Duffel <dionyasis@sprynet.com>

When I was a little girl we went to Disney World. When we came home, for the next few years my older brother would put me on his bike and ride me through the yard yelling, "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride." His birthday is coming soon and I saw this website on WGN Channel 9-Chicago this morning. What a great idea!!!!
From: John Marsden <techman@ameri-com.com>

i am a toad ride lover, and i am sorry i couldnt be there for the closing.
From: Alan Kim <disneykeys@webtv.net>

First I want to thank you for all your efforts into saving a worthwhile ride. I have been following your efforts from almost the beginning and I know this was a labor of love for you. I'm only sorry that they didn't have a ceremony at the closing. They had a closing ceremony for the Subs at Disneyland, but it still wasn't enough. I only wish that the powers that be would realize that people are the important thing and not the bottom line.

I know this is little consolation, but we do have a Toad Ride (for the moment) at Disneyland. I know this is not the same but I hope we can meet at one of the Sunday meets so I can shake your hand.
From: Michael S. Bellman <mbellman@mail.coin.missouri.edu>

I grew up in Tampa and have visited the MK at least 20 times. I thought Mr Toad's Wild Ride was cool because not only was it one of the most fast-paced lines in the park, but it had !2! versions. They are different stories! My wife and I got to ride 3 times in July so at least we saw it before they kill it for good.
From: Brian <jn1315@aol.com>

Well, I was at the Magic Kingdom yesterday and neglected to visit Mr. Toad. As always the wait was enormous. I guess he's more popular than the Disney execs think.

I heard about this terrible fiasco this morning when I read the news paper. (It mentioned your site too) I'm upset that Mr. Toad may face extinction, but I'm even more horrified to find out that Horizons faces possible death as well. That's one of my favorite rides of all. I'm still mourning the loss of 20,000 Leagues and World of Motion. I wish they'd leave things alone. Disney might not have to raise their ticket prices again this year if they decide not to rebuild these attractions.
From: engtp@aol.com

We vacationed at the Magic Kingdom a few weeks ago, and I must say that even though I love Pooh, I can't understand why they closed this ride. Whose idea was this? That ride was enjoyed by so many people. We feel that after numerous visits there that Disney is changing and not always for the better. I think it is great that you became involved in such a worthy cause. You will not win all of your battles in life, but remember that you had the courage to fight.

Good luck in your future endeavors.
From: Laura <bellebay@aol.com>

Is it too late???

I only heard about my dear Mr. Toad recently!! It is too late to change their minds?? I LOVE this ride at Disney World!!! My family and I have been to Disney World 9 times and every single time we start off the trip with a spin through Toad Hall. What will we do now?!

Let me know if there's anything that can be done!
From: Chris Campbell <chriscam6@aol.com>

I know the ride is supposed to close in two days, but these fiends must be stopped...if resistance isn't maintained, they might even try to do the same thing at (YIKES!) Disneyland, too!

I love Toad's Wild Ride. It's always been my favorite...even after all these years (I just turned 50), I'm never ENTIRELY sure that it ISN'T a train this time, and I always get scared. Very satisfying.

Thanks for maintaining this swell site!
From: Chris Sampson <dsampson@bellsouth.net>

I too find this to be one of my favorite rides at WDW. It is very unfortunate that they are closing it and not listening to the fans.
From: Erica Davies <mikebarb@hockinghills.net>

Please don't replace Mr. Toad's Wild Ride with Pooh. Isn't there another place you can put the Pooh attraction. I was a junior in High school when I came to Disney it had always been a dream of mine. I rode Mr. Toad's Wild Ride I liked it and I don't think you should do away with it.
From: Brad DePlanche <nicesoles@aol.com>

I play Toad every year in the Shakespeare Santa Cruz production of The Wind in the Willows, and it was mine and my sisters favorite ride in the parks.

I'm starting to learn my lines again, and getting angrier and angrier about the closing of the ride. I saw the original Disney film the other day as well, both priceless. It's a shame.
From: Lynn A. Pecuch <lpecuch@email.msn.com>

I hope I'm not too late in trying to save the BEST ride in Disney World. Mr. Toad must stay or DW will never be the same!!! Mr. Toad is the first ride we go on to begin our "magical" time at DW and its the last ride we go on as we depart the kingdom. Please don't end our family tradition. The joy on my neices faces were the exact replicas of mine and my sister's when we were their ages experiencing Mr. Toad for the first time. Please spare Mr. Toad!!!!
From: Miss Mary <jpe@freeway.net>

Long live Mr. Toad!!!

One of my earliest childhood memories is of our family's trip to Disney World. Sure, I loved the Peter Pan ride (is it still there?) and meeting Donald Duck, but nothing compared to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Disney has committed blasphemy, plain and simple!!!

Might I add that on that long-ago visit to Disney World, Minnie Mouse was romping around and "accidentally" knocked down the 3 year-old me and stumbled over my little head! Since then, I have known that Miss Minnie is EVIL!!!

I am quite upset about the demise of Mr. Toad in Florida. As Toad said, "I am wounded, mortally wounded!!!"
From: Susan <savethetoad@webtv.net>

I just read about Mr. Toad's plight in the Ft. Myers News Press. I'm very disappointed in Disney!
From: Chris Burns <skybums@lemoorenet.com>

I too am a long time Mr. Toad's Wild Ride fan, I grew up riding it and want to share the experience with my children. :)
From: Sean T. Nolan <sean.t.nolan@worldnet.att.net>

Fight! Fight! Fight!

I'm with ya!
From: Robbie McDaniel <dmcdaniel@erols.com>

I think this is a great cause. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was and will always be the greatest ride at Disneyworld.
From: Ilene Kummer <ilene.kummer@gte.net>

Thanks for the info on a most worthy toad indeed!!!

If more people cared about the fate of all toads, our roads would be much nicer!
From: Richard Williamson <m4658@prodigy.net>

I know that I'm writing this letter after the fact, but I just wanted to say you put up one helluva fight. If more people had put the time and energy that you did to save Toad, we all might be riding 'til we were old and gray. Thank you for your tremendous effort!!! I am thankful that I was able to ride on the final day, but unfortunatly we had to leave to come home at around 1:00. I do regret that I was not there for the final Toad In. But as I said I count myself fortunate that I had one last ride.

I felt like I could really relate when you said you saw the smiles on those boy's faces and said "That was me 20 years ago." Mr. Toad was my first memory of Disney, and it just really sucks now that He's gone. Well enough of my ramblings, just thanks again, helluva fight, and maybe by some bizarre twist of fate, we will ride Toad once again!!!!!!

Long Live Toad!

P.S. It pissed me off too that they had the Pooh ride already listed on the guidemap on Toad's final day.
From: Mike Chew <bobsmike@webtv.net>

If it is not too late, I'd like to register my protest opinion for me and my girl.

I have only been on the net two months. Thank you for the good fight to save Toad. It even made the business section of the San Francisco Chronicle (AP wire story).
From: twinmicks@aol.com

my son broke into tears when he heard the news about the imminent closing of MTWR.

thanks for your attention to this. i guess it is too late to save the ride.
From: Carol Gee <clgee@inreach.com>

Will be making a trip to Disney World in November and would love to wear a "Toad" shirt....just to remind them....Toad isn't forgotten!

My son frequents Disneyland and it would be nice to let them know how disappointing it is that Mr. Toad is gone (DW) however, hope they don't get any weird ideas.
From: Chris Moore <cmoore01@gte.net>

I'm sorry for the loss....
From: Darwin L. Hatheway <dhathewa@isd.net>

My first opportunity to go to Disneyland was in 1987, when I was 32 years old! Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is one of my favorites! I've since been to Orlando and was delighted to be able to take the Wild Ride there, too.

If Toad goes, what's next? Teacups? Peter Pan? Canal Boats? Where will it all end?
From: Susannah Pelletier <dinojrfrk2@aol.com>

I just rode this ride twice the other day. I will surely miss it.

Keep up the good work. We don't have to settle for this quietly.
From: Eric Schmidt <eschmidt@scudc.scu.edu>

I've heard that the ride got killed a week ago or so. I live in Cali...and if Disney killed Toad in Florida, who knows if the Disneyland version won't get the axe next.
From: Christine Wilson <jcwilson@aracnet.com>

I'm sorry for your loss, Toad... :)

Seriously, though, that *really* sucks. Thanks for letting us know. Just FYI, I did write them about it! Maybe it's worth writing again...

I've enjoyed your site and thanks very much for trying to save the ride for the rest of us.
From: Wendy Reimer <tech17@gateway.tec.wi.us>

I got sent your wonderful articles on Mr. Toad about his last ride. I was very interested, my family was going to fly down there on the last day but I had to work. I know that is no reason to miss the ride but work is work once you start you can't stop.

I'm sad too so I now what your going through.
From: Shawn Cochran <shawncochran@earthlink.net>

RIP Toad... You were one of my favorites.
From: Tony Kontzer <tony@goodink.com>

I wanted you to know that I read every word of your Toad-In report and was very touched. You did a masterful job of taking us to the scene. I think you should consider writing something for mags like the New Yorker and Premiere, etc. And I'm a professional writer/journalist, so I do know a little something about which I speak.

And great job on the pictures page. Very enjoyable. I only wish I could have ridden the Florida version just once before it expired.

Back to The Ride...

I grew up on Disneyland and have never been the Disney World, and it bums me out that if I ever do make it there, I won't be able to ride the Eastern version of Toad. Heck, I didn't even know it had two sides. And if they make the same decision regarding Disneyland's Mr. Toad, well, a big piece of MY childhood will die. Here's hoping that doesn't happen.

Mr. Toad has always been one of my all-time favorites. A non-thrill ride that titillates with creativity! They don't make 'em like that anymore. And when they updated Fantasyland in the 80s and made changes to the ride, I was aghast until I rode the new version and found it was even better.

But Disney has been in a state of flux for some time, as you know. I'm already really irritated that they took out Disneyland's Peoplemover. Tomorrowland was in need of updating--it was looking more like yesterdayland--but why do they always add by subtraction? And a few years ago I visited Anaheim and was dismayed that they had put speakers on the tops of the seat backs on Space Mountain, playing irritatingly inappropriate surfer music throughout the ride. You couldn't even hear all the spacey background sounds and it completely ruined the atmosphere. I understand they've changed the music to something a bit more spacey and mood-appropriate, but the damage has been done.

Anyway, thanks again for a job well done. And remember, some of the best soldiers in history fought on the losing side of the battle.
From: rjohn45060@aol.com

i love your website and i visit it almost every day. i just saw the last toad in pictures today and they're really nice. thanks
From: pokey02323@aol.com

It is a travesty that they are closing this ride!! Next they'll be closing Peter Pan's Flight!! It's sacreligious!! I am 30 years old and Mr. Toad is one of my favorite rides. Yes, it may be "simpler" than some of the other rides, but that is the charm of it. I really hope that the suits at Disney wake up and realize how popular and beloved this ride is!!

I must say that you had me in tears reading about your last ride. I cannot believe they closed it....for the latest fad. I own stock in Disney...maybe I should reconsider.

You did a great job. I loved reading about your "toad ins".

Take care and.....chin up.
From: lgenovese@yahoo.com

I'm sorry about the Toad, I wish I was there to help save him. The ride will be greatly missed. I grew up on Disney, my family and I went every year and when I turned eighteen danced for Walt Disney World in the Magic Kingdom and MGM. I loved that ride!!! Thanks for trying!!!
From: Tim Morell <tim_morell@counsel.com>

I remember reading the accounts of your efforts to save the Toad. Made me proud to be a UM Alum (Law 83).
From: The Atkinsons <waldos3@aol.com>

So sad to think my children ages 4 months and 4 years will not be able to experience Mr. Toad as I did in my childhood! I cried then from fright, now from sadness.
From: J.P. McDevitt <juntmonkey@aol.com>

Wow, [the final Toad In report] was very good, and extremely emotional. I am touched. It was my favorite ride also.
From: Vanessa Aquilina <vlaquili@flash.lakeheadu.ca>

I've been to Disneyland in Florida twice, and I love Toad's Wild Ride. In fact, right now I'm doing a major project on Toad for my second year Children's Literature class. Not only will I support not closing down the ride, but these postcards will be a rock'n bonus for me for class!!! I will admit, I love Winnie the Pooh, but can't Disney put it somewhere else? Can't the two rides live in harmony?
From: David Reilly <treehaus@loop.com>

i have been a disneyland (anaheim) visitor since 1958. i was eight years old then. toad was always one our favorite rides, even after i supposedly "outgrew" it i always rode it. i took my little boy on it. (space mountain scared him) i had no idea this was happening. but, i cannot find anything anywhere in you site regarding toad at the west coast disneyland. is it already long gone?

what's up?!?!?

thanks for your efforts against the corporate beast.
From: Zevaluz <zevaluz@amphigory.com>

As a very recent finder of your site (2 weeks ago) who was planning to purchase a T-shirt and other things for the cause, I'm very saddened by the announcement today.

Please post on the site all the details of the 'last ride', since I'm in IN, I cannot make it there, but would like to hear about it.

I'm going to concentrate some of my ears that I have pointed towards Disney to find out if they are planning the same for Mr. Toad in WDL, CA.
From: Rob <retlawfan@aol.com>

Thank you.

You are a great fighter.

Even though I'm out here in California, and could never get to a Toad In, I was with you in spirit. You will always have friends here, who believe in the cause too.

So, I say again....Thank you.

:(
From: heavensk@aol.com

I've been going to Disney World since it opened and Mr Toad has always been my favorite ride! I cant believe that they are destroying the classic!
From: Melissa Shaw <meshaw@indiana.edu>

Nice save toad site....I had no idea they were going to close it.....as for the Wind in the Willows....I recorded it off of the disney channel a few months ago....they were running it pretty heavy on there for a while.....I just think it would be nice to have a little stuffed Mr. Toad.....he's got to be one of the cutest characters ever!

I think if I had to pick just one character that needs more mechandise it would be Mr. Toad In fact, I cant remember seeing any Mr. Toad merchandise at all!
From: mskott80ss@aol.com

let us all please have a moment of silence for the termanally ill mr. toad. poor ole toad, the ride i ended many a stay at wdw as a kid too frightened of "big people" rides such as space mountain or thunder mountain, i would ride mr. toad as my last ride at 12:00 when the park would close. even though now 24, an age where i end the stay at space mountain, i still ride toad every visit and say "HI!" to moley every damn time in the first room before you blast through the fireplace. I've just graduated college and looking for a job so this summer is pretty much out for a visit. unless something like a new good job where i have the extra $ and time off for a trip soon, i may never see my old pal toad or his ride again. i've been to wdw probably 15 times in my 24 years, living in kentucky, so it's not like i've lived a deprived childhood, so this story is not one of epic sadness, none-the-less, i will shed a tear and throw a melting mickey eared icecream at the first damn pooh i see, whether he be animatronic or plush or costume. so goes mr. toad, we will never see his like again.

:(
From: Chris Wittmer <christine.wittmer@swcollege.com>

Hope it's not too late to show my support.
From: Sylvia Lam <sylvialam@prodigy.net>

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, was one of my favorites and he shall ever live on in Anaheim, where I went last summer!
From: Dan Metsch <jamdan1@bellatlantic.net>

It's a real shame to see MR. TOAD go the way of another great attraction you all might remember...20,000 leagues under the sea. I first rode these rides in 1976 & fell in love with the place, these are the things that separate Disney from the rest. Very disheartening.
From: Nicole Gilliam <nicoleg636@aol.com>

i think it is mean that they are tearing it down i've never been there but i'm sure i'd like it.
From: Anne <annagonia@aol.com>

We are planning a trip to WDW for November, 1999. One of my 10 year old's first comments upon hearing of our plans was, "I want to ride Mr. Toad again!!!" We are very disappointed and will miss Mr. Toad. Thank you for your efforts to save him.
From: Arthur Sperry <sperrya@frederick.k12.va.us>

My story is a bit late, but I have to relate it. When I was in 9th grade (1977) we went to Disney World. I am now 37, and teach Latin here in Virginia. The one ride which really made an impression on me was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Skip to 1998. My sister is living in Nevada. While visiting her we took a few days to go to Disneyland in California. I now have an eight-year-old son. The first ride we rode was Mr. Toad. With no real prodding from me, he loved it! We rode the ride about 25 times over a two day period. All this time I had no idea what was happening in Florida. Last August I first saw the news reports of what was happening. I felt sick to my stomach. The rides like Mr. Toad are what sets Disney apart from their competitors. They are cutting their own throats by closing a classic! I support your valiant effort and applaud you for your persistence. I hope that Mr. Toad will continue to live on in Ca. My little boy had an interesting thought. He says that Disney should release The Wind in the Willows again, so that a whole new generation will come to know Mr. Toad and company. He even said they could have monitors showing the video while one waits in line. Oh well, some day historians will note the closing of Mr. Toad as yet more evidence of the decline of western civilization (ha ha)!!
From: Maggie Strate <isisgirl7@aol.com>

I love that ride. Can't bear to see it go...
From: Mary Coenen <mcoenen@co.scott.mn.us>

My sister and I are big Mr. Toad fans.
From: Catherine Olive <cathyo@ti.com>

Save Mr. Toad's Wild Ride! It's been one of my favorite rides at Disney World for years!
From: Chas Andres <candres@ultranet.com>

I think there may be a chance to get them to reopen Mr. Toad.

I would actually try to save a ride that I have always liked just as much. Journey into Imagination (Figment) is going to be closing. :-(
From: Ivy Roche <chulee22@aol.com>

I'm gonna try and do my part to save mr. toad.
From: Fred Guilmette <fred.guilmette@worldnet.att.net>

To save any ride. Become a stockholder.

I have been to Disney's stockhold meeting in FLA., at Disney World some years ago. Here is where CO listen to stockhold. Disney's stockhold meeting is held every year in February, normally Calif. next year in FLA..

At meeting start would Show with Mickey or small floots. Then CO tell how company is doing, and going do in upcoming year. Next business report on Disney. Now Good part! Q&A part of meeting. before beginning some of stockholder head for door for free tickets. (Note: This there were no free tickets parks) You find that the stockhold that have a issue or thing to bring up to Disney, stay. The CO listen and gives replies to stockholders. Then CO make motion end the meeting.
From: Richard Dilbeck <rdilbeck@bellsouth.net>

One of the greatest memories was riding Mr. Toad with my Dad and Brother in the summer of 1972. I looked forward to riding it every time I went to Disneyworld and I am glad my daughter got to ride it on our last visit in 1996.
From: jcjpbrain@aol.com

JUST HOLD A MINUTE, I THINK THAT WDW IS THE BEST PLACE TO WALK INTO YOUR FAVORITE DISNEY MOVIES..... I'VE SEEN POOH COMING, BUT WHY DOWN WITH MISTER TOAD? WHY COULDN'T POOH BE PUT IN CRITTER COUNTRY, OR MAYBE ADDED ON TO FANTASYLAND? COME ON! KEEP UP THE FIGHT!!!!!
From: trichard@pcisys.net

I wish to express my extreme dissatisfaction and disappointment that Disney decided to close Mr. Toad's Wild Ride attraction in Fantasyland. It was a favorite of mine since I was a child and I really feel that Disney is doing its customers a disservice by taking this type of approach on wonderful legacy rides. My wife and I have already booked a trip to Disney this May and I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I just heard the news. I am very sad that my two sons will not be able to enjoy Mr. Toad's Wild Ride as I did...
From: Jonna Monge <boxer204@aol.com>

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, AND I THINK IT'S GREAT WORK AND DEDICATION THAT YOU ARE PUTTING INTO THIS! KEEP IT GOING, HOPEFULLY WE CAN REACH THEM
From: Tracey <trixie65@hotmail.com>

I still haven't gotten over losing the Mickey Mouse Revue. Now Toad? It's too much to handle.

Count me in as a toadie!

I rode for the first time 27 years ago, December 1971, I was 6 and the park was only 2 months old. Now my grandchildren will never see Toad Hall.

Breaks my heart.
From: Dan Holloway <jrc5181@garnet.acns.fsu.edu>

Keep up the fight!
From: Samuel Karge <barney@execpc.com>

Long live Toady!
From: Maureen Byrne Vera Cruz <mousear@worldnet.att.net>

I hate Mr. Toad's ride being removed. It was one of my favorite rides. It's nice to know there are people like you who care...
From: Rebecca Burns <burns111@erols.com>

I think what you are is great I also love Mr. Toad's Wild Ride very much.
From: Sarah Austin <srraustin@aol.com>

i was there on labor day for the last ride and i want to complain.
From: Karen Mitchell <kickass_karen@gurlmail.com>

Thanks for putting up this great site. I too am one of many crazed Disney park fans-- more subliminally than actively, since almost all my dreams at night take place at Disneyland, often in the Mr. Toad's car! I'd have to agree with the other malcontents who have noticed a decline in the quality of the parks, unfortunately. I hate how the park is turning from the happiest place on earth to pure, unadulterated promotional drivel for whatever flick is out now. (The Hunchback's Feast of Fools?!) And personally, I think Pooh sucks. Long live Toad!
From: Patty Crane <trcrane@televar.com>

Long live Mr. Toad!
From: Paul Fogle <syber@pcisys.net>

As a previous Florida resident, I grew up with lot's of trips to Disney World, and loved all the old rides. I'd hate to see any disappear as then I'd have no memories to talk about when I take my kids there in the future.
From: Linda Hudson <lehudson@aol.com>

Thanks for your hard work!
From: Jason W. Koye <jkoye@clemson.edu>

I found out about the closing through my college paper here at Clemson. I was a little annoyed that I found out about it so late but those are the downfalls of being uninformed.

Save Toad.
From: Alan Schwartz <schwartz@digitaldune.net>

As a former cast member of WDW (1988-1990) it is sad to see the good classic rides go...when I worked at WDW I was in MK-East and I used to work occasionally at Mr Toad. I feel if Disney would have released "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad" people would know the story better and the outcry would be LOUD and definitely heard..It's a shame.
From: noraft13@aol.com

The first time i went to Disney World, I fell in love with Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Please don't get rid of it or you ill be getting rid of part of my childhood. Thank you.
From: Jeremy Fassler <halhillco@aol.com>

I wish I had found out about this website sooner. I have never been to Disneyworld but I have to Disneyland. Mr. Toad in Anaheim is always one of my favorites. I want to go in the summer to go on the new Winnie the Pooh ride and compare it to Mr. Toad. You shouldn't have closed MTWR because if I go in the summer I won't be able to enjoy the ride like many of us did. DON'T LET MR. EISNER DO ANYTHING TO MR.TOAD IN DISNEYLAND!!! If he does I could kill him. I could just kill him. My Point here is to Force you to reopen MTWR. Moley can't stop crying. Ratty has himself locked in his house and he won't come out. The only character I haven't heard from is Mr. Toad himself. If you don't reopen Mr. Toad, I will go there and make you. You need to learn from your mistakes.

P.S.This is my dad's internet name but I am allowed to use it.
From: Jennifer Litwin <litwin34@potsdam.edu>

I too loved Mr. Toad and was appalled to find out that he had been closed down the night before I got down there. I worked at the Magic Kingdom this past fall on the college program. I too received many positive comments about Mr. Toad from guests and how disappointed they were that he was gone. Thank you for keeping the spirit of Mr. Toad alive.
From: Kaliopi Pappas <kip@ocf.berkeley.edu>

Man. The Weasels sold you all down the Rivers of America in a caravan of Toad cars. At least we still have our Hall in Anaheim...but I fear for the Tiki Room and the Bear Country Playhouse.

Don't let the b@$%*#&s wear you down.
From: Parry Aftab <parry@aftab.com>

Love your site! Keep up the good work!

Mr. Toad rocks!!!
From: Dave <soapnbox@aol.com>

Sorry to hear about the demise of Mr Toad's Wild Ride. That ride (although corny) is one of my favorites and SHOULD be preserved. But alas, this is Eisnerworld.
From: A Disney Employee <address withheld by request>

Just want to let you know that I as I was waking up this morning, I hear Bill Wier on WGN tv here in Chicago announce that their web site of the day is Save Toad! They basically just scan thru the site and tell what's there. He made the comment that it was very well done and how much he liked Toad as a kid....and it scared him a bunch. The other members of the news team voiced their agreement on liking Toad, and all moaned when he said they were putting in Pooh. He put in a plug for the shirts and ended with the pics of the "Send Pooh to Hell" posters.

They will link the site from theirs now....too bad it wasn't a little sooner....... It's also funny, this is Bill's last week at WGN....he is totally nuts..... hmmmmmmm, coincidence???? This wacked out group really helps me get going in the a.m......I'm gonna miss this guy! Aaaaccckkkk! Don't know how I can take so much trauma all at once....;(

When I was out in LA last May, I got to tour WDI and got a brief glimpse of a model of the Pooh ride (sssshhhhhh, don't tell!)...... knotted my stomach right up.....sigh........
JT, thanks for all your hard work this past year! I love this company dearly, and am saddened and very concerned that it is all going to collapse one of these days if they continue with the current mindset.........

keep the faith.....
From: Natalie Frye <ndfrye@earthlink.net>

I emailed my protest of Toad Hall's closing long before I found your web site. My family and I were planning our first trip to Disney World and were saddened to learn of the closure. Living on the west coast, we go to Disneyland quite often and honestly the entire Magic Kingdom at WDW pales by comparison to Anaheim.

Long live Toady!
From: Mark Love <mlove50103@aol.com>

I have decided to fly from Los Angeles to Orlando this weekend for a final ride on this great attraction. Unfortunately, because of work on Labor Day itself, I will not be able to attend the "official" farewell on Monday, but I will be with you all in spirit.

Thanks for all of your efforts to save Mr. Toad.
From: Bill Wertz <wertz@eye-site.com>

This may be a bit after the fact, but I'd like to add my condolences to those of thousands of others. My first trip to WDW was in 1971 - and the only thing I remembered about the trip was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. A few years later, when my family next visited the Magic Kingdom, it was the first thing I wanted do. And, apart from the Haunted Mansion, the only ride I wanted to repeat.

Nearly thirty years later, Mr. Toad remains one of my most vivid early memories. I may still visit WDW, but I doubt I'll be treading in Pooh. And the Kingdom will definitely have lost some of its Magic.
From: Rob <rdw@blarg.net>

I was deeply saddened to hear about the closing of the ride in Orlando. Being a west coaster, I have never been to Disney World. However, I have enjoyed Mr. Toad's journey to hell (and back) many times in California. Has Disneyland closed their ride as well? I hope not, as I plan on returning in the spring. Some friends of mine started a pizza restaurant in Portland, Oregon, and named one of their pies- you guessed it "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride".

Great job on the website and the noble battle you undertook.
From: Westenberg <westenb@casema.net>

I just read Mr. Toads Wild Ride is history in wdw. It is terrible! I always wanted to see it and in Disneyland Paris there is no MTWR, but next year I finally could see it, I thought, but I can't! I am very disappointed! Mr. Toad is 100000000 times better than Winnie the Pooh!!!!!!
From: Jennifer Schillig <sg963@webtv.net>

I'm a 26-year-old grad student and still a kid at heart, who will always love Disney World. In the past, I never was overly crazy about MTWR---Peter Pan's Flight was always my #1 in Fantasyland. But after reading your website, especially your touching story on the last day...I wish I had been. I would have gone on it more if I had gotten out of the ride all you seemed to.

Funny...one of the older guidebooks I read classified it as one of the only duds in the MK, due to the cutouts rather than animatronics (probably what Disney meant when they called it outdated). Certainly, I'm all for the addition of new rides to the World, but they also must keep a sense of the classic. And don't get me wrong...I adore Pooh. In fact, I wouldn't really call Pooh a "new fad", since he was still popular when I was a kid. I still have some vinyl albums of Sterling Holloway narrating Pooh stories and poetry. But I do agree...since when is Disney so pressed for space? The best Disney movies and attractions combine old with new. That's what made me love Beauty and the Beast so much,--it had modern elements, but kept some very classic ones too (the enchanting score, the fairy-tale atmosphere). But I must encourage you and all the fighters out there....DON'T GIVE UP HOPE. I just read that they're returning the old Main Street Electrical Parade to the MK. (Mixed feelings on that...I love the old parade, but SpectroMagic had my jaw on the ground, too. That peacock!) So take heart, Toadies...if they can return an old attraction to the MK, is it so difficult to imagine that they might rebuild Mr. Toad if enough people continued making noise? Maybe an upgraded version, like Disneyland's.

And take heart that Toad rides again at Disneyland! I've always said I'd like to go there one day just to see what's different (the Pinocchio and Alice rides sound cool). I'll have to re-discover Toad there. Count me a Toad convert, and don't lose heart!
From: Bill Mapes <bmapes@ibm.net>

Long Live The Toad !!!
From: Harry Applegate <wdisneyw@email.msn.com>

I just found your site and support the cause. Removing rides and attractions sucks.
From: Lynda Kemp <kemp@ldr-int.com>

Although it's too late, I still want to voice my objections. Thanks for your efforts. Ride on Mr. Toad!!
From: Tiffany C. Townsend <townsend.tiffany@tumora.swmed.edu>

I know it's a bit late, but I just found out that Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is closing today from an NPR report.
From: Dean Benoy <dbenoy@pressenter.com>

The ride has been shut down which is a total disgrace.
From: David Goussev <dpg@wirepaladin.com>

DOWN WITH DISNEY!

DISNEY BITES! GO TOAD! Mr. TOAD ROCKS! Toadi Acceleratio!

Save the toad's wild ride!!!!!!
From: Scott and Jeanne Croinex <wlvren@gci.net>

I AM STATIONED IN ALASKA (WERE WORD TRAVELS KINDA SLOW), BUT GREW UP IN DAYTONA, AND WAS NOT AWARE OF THIS TRAVESTY! I HAVE E-MAILED DISNEY AS REQUESTED.

***LONG LIVE TOAD***
From: John Nick Pull <johnnick@hotmail.com>

Congratulations on your blurb in the New Yorker. Condolences on the sad closing. I rode the California version with my older brother in 1975, and I'll always remember him pushing me out of the car when the train came. He was trying to save me. It was a good laugh afterward. He died a couple years later, and Mister Toad's Wild Ride is one of my favorite memories of the two of us together.
From: territo@ibm.net

SCREW DISNEY!!!!!

I live in Orlando and Disney's ruining all the best rides; first Mr. Toad, Horizons, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Imagination, next the Haunted Mansion, Dumbo, the Race Cars, and probably the Living Seas. Like, what are they doing, going and ruining everything that was good? Well I had to get that down for the record.
From: Chad E. Logan <chad.logan@eds.com>

I just learned of the travesty that Disney is trying again to run the world. It's terrible.
From: Andrea Hackett <colette@lvcm.com>

Thank you for your time and wonderful efforts on JT Toad's behalf. Our 4-year-old son, Goodwin is in complete shock over all this. We were planning a trip to WDW this XMas, but NOT NOW!!!!

Please let us know what we can do to ensure the evil Eisner doesn't try the same thing with the Toad Ride in Anaheim.
From: Michael Sweeney <sween@mail.swbell.net>

I know it is now too late, but I still want to express my contempt. I also was a major Toad fan, and I feel sick that I didn't know about this sooner.

Thanks for following some propriety with your actions. It shows people that the Disney Co. is the real villian here and not their patrons. While I understand that the theme parks need to change and grow, I can't understand getting rid of a classic -- a ride that is part of the experience of the Magic Kingdom! Anyway, thanks for you efforts.

Pooh! Who the hell wants a Pooh ride? What will be do, collect honey? Posh! And 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea makes me sick to. Do you know the circumstances behind that closure? The stupid people at Disney will probably put a Little Mermaid attraction in that wonderful lagoon.
From: Kobbe <nuggetmac1@aol.com>

Keep up the good job.

Stick to your guns.

I have been to Walt Disney 7 times and Mr. Toad's ride was always on the list to ride.
From: Amy Waldron <amy_waldron@hotmail.com>

I AGREE WITH YOU COMPLETELY THAT MR TOAD'S IS A CLASSIC RIDE. IF DISNEY WANTS TO IMPROVE THE PARK BY ADDING A WINNIE THE POOH ATTRACTION I THINK THAT THEY NEED TO FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO PUT IT AND LEAVE MR TOAD ALONE.
From: R.D. Lendley <tango307@aol.com>

Thank you very much, and for all the work that you have done to save <sniff> Toady!
From: Byron Suthers <baron619@aol.com>

i love mr. toad's wild ride
From: Julie Balter <juliehope@worldnet.att.net>

Thanks for trying to save Mr. Toad!
From: Mother and Daughter from So Cal <ashckat@aol.com>

Thankx for letting us know how it ended. We are very sorry that Mr. Toad is gone.

You tried very hard and we appreciate your effort.

Also we did send in all of our postcards.
From: Dennis McKeen <dmck62@aol.com>

I can not believe it!!!!!!!!!!

I am outraged at this.

SAVE THE TOAD
From: Dana Polovoy <pluto526@hotmail.com>

My sister and I have visited Walt Disney World about 13 times a piece in the last 19 years. On our most recent trip to the parks in March 1998, we made our last ride of the trip "Mr. Toad" because we knew that it would be closing soon. We took pictures of the ride, in the cars, and standing in fron of the marquis. Disney has taken away one of my biggest memories: begging my mom to wait through the 30-45 minute line, just so that I could drive the car through Toad Hall! I vow never to go on the new Winnie the Pooh ride, just as my own personal protest.
From: Kathryn Kula <kathryn.kula@pharma.novartis.com>

I am so sad that Mr. Toad will be no longer in a little over a week. I love Toad for many reasons, but I feel that the most important lesson is that it teaches us that driving like a maniac will only make you end up in Hell!

JT: You have put forth a valiant effort, and you will always be remembered by Toad fans throughout the world.
From: Loni Reeder <lonir@email.msn.com>

Too little - too late!

I can't believe that I knew nothing of this --- in any event, I still sent the following to TPTB in Orlando.

Wish I could be with you all in Orlando on Monday, but alas --- a long way from California. Rest assured, I will be there with you in spirit.

My best to you....

Re: Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

I can't believe this is the first I am hearing about this. I spent most of the day in a funk, thinking that my fondest childhood memory was going to be cast aside for what we now call "progress". Fortunately for me (but unfortunately for Disney World visitors), the "termination" is happening in Orlando, not Anaheim as I had originally thought.

There is evidently nothing that can be done to save Mr. Toad in Orlando (sad --- had I been more aware, you would have been besieged by my numerous media connections). However --- mess with Anaheim, and I'll find a way to bring back Walt to put you all in your place if need be!!!
From: Michael McCormick <iamtrode@aol.com>

I would like to subscribe to your newsletter, even though I reside on the "Magic Kingdom" coast! I was even more dismayed to learn, from a flyer from Disneyland that I recieved on Oct. 5th, that the submarine ride at disneyland also submerged into obscurity forever at the end of Sept!!!!! What is going on with this "Mickey Mouse" co.?

Thank you very much for your concern over OUR parks!
From: Frank <frankie78@aol.com>

All I can say is THANK YOU! You gave up so much of your time and tried so hard to save something that is a huge part of so many people's childhoods. I am a 19 year old guy, and me and my girlfriend loved Toad so much, and we will truly miss it. Disney has taken a piece of our childhood away from us. But I have one major thing to say about you final report. Do not look as it as if you did no good, or failed. The Ride may not have been saved, but you changed so many peoples lives, and made sure Toad would live forever. You did such a great job, and let many people know about the end of Toad, than would have ever been known, if we all had to wait for Disney to fill us in on there plans. They announced it, and less than a week later, we all said bye. Me and my girlfriend tried to make it up there, but it just didn't seem to work out to where we could make it. Your letter, and your accounts of that last day, brought a tear to my eye. I will miss Toad forever, but I will always have the memories, from when I was a little kid, to when I rode it on Grad night with my girlfriend, to my last time riding it, this past Valentine's Day, also with my girlfriend. Thank you so much for everything you have done. Your voice has been heard by many, and you truly have made an impact!
From: Deb <budman@erols.com>

...just wanted to add my 2 cents, as late as they may be. I sure am sorry to see Mr. Toad go by the wayside... and I sure did think what you were doing was wonderful. I just can't understand Disney's philosophy these days. And I can't believe that all your hard work was for naught.

Anyway, I'm sure it is small consolation to you, but at least you know that you didn't sit idly by, doing nothing... I really admire your effort and wish you could have been more successful.
From: Denise & Andy <linstead@toad.net>

We protested for you symbolically. My husband was especially vocal with the ride operators.
From: Joe and Mary Ann Kulo <kuloskorner@worldnet.att.net>

I have enjoyed your efforts to Save Mr. Toad. We enjoyed the ride also when our son was growing up. We never understand why the things we like seem to be the ones discarded. If it is not sex and violence it is dropped. Guess we are old fashioned.
From: atatadam@aol.com

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride Rules!
From: Kienan Almeida <kja@mailserver.fiber-net.com>

2 words--Those Bastards! I just heard and i know its a little late. I am severly upset. I have always known Disney to be the evil megalomaniacs that they are, yet I never imagained that even THEY were capable of such a vile deed as closing Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I am sixteen, this ride is a vital part of my inner psyche, which was infiltrated before I knew better about Disney's evil.

I know my friends feel the same exact way.
From: Elizabeth Finkelstein <emarie@netcom.com>

I'd like to say how supportive of you I am.

Thanks a mill.
From: coobeans14@aol.com

i just wanted to let u know that i do like the shirts and appreciate what you are doing.
From: gibbon99@aol.com

What you guys have done is great.
From: Luke <harddisk88@aol.com>

Mr. Toad was one of my favorite rides. I'm sure going to miss it. You guys made a great stand to keep Toad alive and I give thanks for that. I would be there but I live 1000 miles away and have to go to school. I'm sorry about it all. Thanks for the help.
From: Ed Klamp <flippers@mpinet.com>

We rode the ride with my 5 yr old today (both sides) @ about 11:30 knowing it was the last day. What a SHAME . There were not a lot of happy faces in line. It was very sobering. I'll miss the ride. Where else can 2 people drive 1 car!!!!!! Too little too late I guess!!!
From: Pat Patterson <sesrating@aol.com>

I am from SoCal but now live on the East coast. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride has been my favorite ride and my wife's also. Our family of 4 spent a few days at Disney World this spring and went on the ride. I forwarded this message to everyone I know. Please send me several of each post card if there are any left and we will send them off. We were planning on making an annual trip in the spring to the keys and the Disney World, now we may have to reconsider. Thanks for your hard work and dedication, The Patterson Family (Pat, Lynn, Kyle, Sierra and Woody).
From: Lynn Murinson <murinsol@bms.com>

Thanks a lot and good luck with the campaign.
From: kingpt@aol.com

They close Mr. Toad and their stock drops, the world knows something Disney doesn't!!
From: Maria Kahn <mariak620@aol.com>

I love Mr. Toad...........
From: Kim Rodgers <samadhi@ideal.net.au>

Save Mr. Toad's Wild Ride!

If you could please send as many cards as possible so I can distribute them down here... It might help if disney received protests from this far away...
From: Barrett Benica <ekho7@aol.com>

excellant site. every trip to disney world my brothers and i make multiple trips to mr toad's ride. to take the ride away would mean that my brothers and i could never again enjoy the thrill and fun of yelling quotes from the movie to one another while whizzing past weasels and winky on our way to nowhere in particular. its time to call on mole, rat, and macbadger to once again help us reclaim toad hall from that band of disney ceo weasels.
thank you and good luck
From: Cheri <edhcheri@aol.com>

Thank you for all your work.
From: Paige B. <paigepooh@webtv.net>

This is my most favorite ride at disney. I would hate to see it go.
From: Kevin <jlzzmonkey@aol.com>

I can't believe this travesty. I'm a Florida native (originally from Ft.Lauderdale, currently living in Tallahassee) and just found out about this today in Tallahassee's Break Magazine. I can't believe what I'm hearing please tell me it's a hoax.

I've been to Disney World God knows how many times and I'll tell you that I've been on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride more than any of them. With the Pirates of the Carribean and the Haunted House both a close second.
From: Julie Beadle <elmo13@prodigy.net>

You are a great person to care so deeply. I am 13 and have been to Walt Disney World 4 times. I am VERY upst about the closing of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Mr. Eisner has ruined a family tradition with his greed. Thanks for listening, and good luck Mr. Toad!
From: Al "2-Shoes" Sheinfeld <sassleen@aol.com>

Don't Squash The Toad!

I found Mr. Toad's Wild Ride to be a one of a kind experience. Although I was 23 years old when I first took the wild ride. I remember it being one of the best looking vintage attractions in the park. Don't let them turn MTWR into another Las Vegas where they destroy any trace of history for the flavor of the month!

The world still needs Mr. Toad.
From: blueye7030@aol.com

dont u dare!

hey listen......im going to disney world in August and if Mr. Toad is not there man im probably gonna sue...im only 12 and i LOVE that ride....its like one of my favs anyways im gonna sue if u take it down so i would ummm....think about what ur doin because Mr.Toad Kicks @$$ and i love that ride!

Save Mr. Toad!!!!
From: Karen A. Szajdek <ksogood@aol.com>

i am a true kid at heart. one of the best rides in walt disney world was mr. toad's wild ride. i cannot believe what i am reading. i was just there in the summer of 1997 and (once again, at the age of 27) fully enjoyed mr. toad. i am planning on visiting again in the summer of 1999 with my baby girl (born november 1997). i was hoping she could enjoy all the wonderful rides i had always took pleasure in. and now.........now i find they extinguished one of the best rides they had for all ages!!!!!! and for what???????? a pooh ride? well, pooh on them!!! they will not hear the end of this from me. everytime i sign-on, everytime i visit a disney store, everytime i get the chance in the park, i will let my opinion be heard!!! they are taking too many memories from the parents of today. parent's that assume these rides will be operating from year to year. disney surely has enough land to place this pooh ride elsewhere. why replace a "classic" attraction? please keep me updated!!!
From: humbear@webtv.net

I'm forty six.

I remember going on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride when I was very small at Disneyland---when I went home to Los Angeles, I re-created it in the living room with chairs and pillows as the car. It was one of my favorites.

Maybe thirty five years later, I was comissioned to write a stage version of THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, and realized that the only story that you could follow through to the end, was about Toad and his friends and the wild ride...

As it happened, I also played the voice of the narrator for every performance and I had to read Kenneth Graham's great thundering swirl of words about Toad and his obsession with speed. That was a ride in itself.

Winnie the Pooh will be a very different kind of experience---honey and condensed milk and confusion and sweetness...but that's Pooh.

Can't somebody recreate the Toad experience someplace? Find some great scenic painters? Use blacklight paint and have some cars made? It could live forever someplace---surely there are enough people who rode the original who remember the details.

Thanks---my condolences.
From: Gregg C. Hider <gchider@eznet.net>

Thank you for all your hard work. I've always enjoyed Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and will cherish the memories.
From: Brad Sarnoff <bsarnoff@aol.com>

Love what you are doing for my favorite disney ride. I would like you to know that I have already emailed the company and told them of my disappointment.
From: Tracey L. Schulz <tschulz@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu>

Let's stick it to the Man.
From: Barry Collins <bacfire@netdoor.com>

I just learned that Mr. Toad rode for the last time this past Labor Day. I found this out about thirty minutes ago. I have been sitting here, literally in shock. How can they do this?

I want to blame myself for my lack of action. I didn't do anything when I first learned of its possible fate because I just didn't believe they would close it. They couldn't... not Toady.

So much is changing in the Disney Company these days, and I am not sure why. I suppose the pursuit of the almighty dollar is blinding to the Powers that Be.

While we are talking about the needless closing of rides, why have they closed Dreamflight? They could have put a Buzz ride anywhere. Even at the Studios.

I am 31 years old. I still remember my big brother and I riding with Mr. Toad when I was a kid. I relived that moment every time I've ridden it since. He and I have grown apart, as many do when they reach adulthood. But, when on that ride, I could still feel that special bond we had as children. Now, even that memory is gone.

Farewell Toady.
From: Elizabeth VH <thestargirl@hotmail.com>

I was thrilled to see your site as I read through "The New Yorker" today! Congratulations! It might be too late for Toad, but hopefully this can become a great piece of publicity for other future cruelties inflicted by that Rat Eisner and his henchweasels. I think of your loss when I ride "Toad" at Disneyland and I am so sorry for the way it turned out.
From: Ron Lee <ronlee@utah-inter.net>

I went on the ride 12 years ago I was the highlight of our trip to Orlando.
From: Adam Feinsilver <dopey@icanect.net>

Damn! I didn't find out about Toad Ins until today! I was even in Disney for the miserable last moments on Monday! The flyers didn't even have Mr. Toad's Wild Ride on them on Monday! They had the coming attraction for Whinnie the Boring Pooh!
From: Jennifer Click <jclick@mindspring.com>

Below is the e-mail we sent to Disney this morning.

Save Mr Toad!! My wife and I took our son, Evan, to Disney World for his second birthday. He loved Mr Toad's Wild Ride. He woke up from his nap as the ride began, gripped the steering wheel and squealed with delight as he drove through walls and around weasles.

Pooh's Hundred Acre Woods will, no doubt, also delight children of all ages but please, not at the expense of Mr Toad. You've got lots of room around Disney World. It would be better to put Pooh and friends over by Toontown and Mickey's house.

Generations of families have become intimately familiar with the Magic Kingdom. Everyone knows where Mr Toad's Wild Ride is. There are many things about Disney World that can and no doubt will change. The Magic Kingdom is special. Parents look forward to sharing the rides they loved as children with their own children. Disney's success brings with it a unique burden--to maintain continuity in the midst of novelty.

Please don't kill Mr Toad.
From: Steve Farmer <jake@axtek.com>

Save Mr. Toad!

Thanks for your efforts....keep up the good work!
From: Joan Boyd <garyjboyd@earthlink.net>

i have already sent an absolutely heart-wrenching e-mail to disney, that would have singlehandedly saved the ride -- if disney HAD a heart.... clap your hands if you believe in miracles!
From: Patrick Macbeath <patrick.macbeath@roche.com>

Shame to hear MTWR is in danger in Orlando... I've only been to Anaheim and Mr. Toad has always been a favorite.
From: Emilie R. Juneman <emilie.juneman@celebration.fl.us>

I love mr. toad! He was the first "thrill ride" that I ever took. I was at the final toad in, made front page news, and news channels 2, 4, 6 and 9!
From: Stephanie Travis <f.w.beans@juno.com>

Le sigh...poor Mr. Toad :(

You know...I've gone to Disney World every year twice a year since I was born in 78. To me, all the great rides were the original ones...the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Peter Pan....heck, even that weird show where you sit in the room and it moves to different years was great! But then, one day...the song and the ENTIRE commentary for that particular ride changed. Then Snow White was "less scary". Space Mountain became "brighter" inside, as did the Haunted Mansion. The 3-D show was changed to become the Lion King show. MY BELOVED "GURGI'S MUNCHINGS AND CRUNCHINGS" snack shop turned into Mrs. Pott's Cupboard and then The Seven Dwarf's Mine. Dumbo was given a "new look"....THEN...20,000 Leagues Under the Sea stopped working and it TOTALLY disappeared!! I can't believe that poor Mr. Toad had to suffer like the rest of these rides, it's becoming almost unfair to the older rides, seeing as how the don't stand much of a chance against newer, bigger, "better" rides. I'm fine and dandy with the OLD rides thank you very much...why go and change a good thing???? I'm going to Disney World this Saturday for my birthday, and believe me....they're going to get some personally delievered letters.

Rest in Peace Toad Hall....maybe one day, you'll be reincarnated somewhere in Disney World...and if Disney gets rid of Big Thunder Mountian, the Jungle Cruise, the Haunted Mansion OR Space Mountain, I will never go there again. Disney needs to learn from their mistakes.

Thank you for letting me rant. :)
From: Avery Schwartz, Age 12 <schwartz@voicenet.com>

I have one word on the destruction of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride - "D'oh"! It was the first thing I rode in the park when I was seven and now it's gone..... for a Winnie the Pooh ride!!! I have nothing against Pooh, but his world is not deserving of a ride. Nothing exciting can really happen (at least that's what I think). Arrgghh..... I learned about what was going to happen to Mr. Toad in vacation in Maine.... simultaneously, my friend and I shouted "WHAT?!?!?" very angrily. They should destroy a ride that I don't like such as It's a Small World or Toontown or something. Oh well, we always have Mr. Toad in Disneyland.....

Why oh why oh why? >:-(
From: jnwells01@aol.com

I'm in my forties and my favorite ride in all of the Magic Kingdom is Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. It is a classic, because although one rides through in a series of cars, one is always in each room by oneself. The car before has moved into the next room and the car behind is still in the prior room. It's technically perfect for a ride that excites!!
From: Hartley Haft <superhart5@aol.com>

I was devastated to hear about Mr. Toads. I am 17 years old and I can remember having my dad carrying me on his back while waiting on line for the best ride in the park. But I will not be sad too long. For hopefully I will put my energy into saving Horizons.
From: grpezfish@aol.com

I LOVE POOH AND ALL, AND I AM ALL FOR A POOH RIDE OR WHATEVER IT IS GOING TO BE. BUT NOT ON TOP OF MR. TOAD!!!!!!! WHAT HAPPENS WHEN POOH DIES DOWN AND MR. TOAD IS THE NEW FAD? DON'T TEAR DOWN THE RIDE. I LOVED IT. AND EVERY MORNING WHILE GETTING READY FOR SCHOOL I LISTEN TO "I'M ON MY WAY TO NOWHERE" 'I'VE GOT TO GET THERE I'VE GOT TO GET THERE!!!!!!

TEAR DOWN MR. TOAD AND LOSE A VERY POPULAR ENTHUSIASTIC DRAMATIC SUPPORTING WALT DISNEY WORLD FAN.

HOW CAN YOU TEAR DOWN MR. TOAD?
From: Don Lancaster <dlancast@io.com>

I know that Toad has taken his last ride, but I just wanted to thank you for trying.

It is sad to see the park going so commercial. Its hard to explain the magic that has been lost to friends who never saw the Magic Kingdom in its earlier days. Still, it is heartening to know that other people have noticed and give a damn enough to try and stop it. Efforts like yours are the only hope for preserving what magic is left.

Even though your page didn't succeed, it informed a lot of people about what is happening to the Magic Kindom (including Me), and that means the next time they try something stupid, more people will be watching.
From: toptimlrd@aol.com

Like many, I remember Toad when I was a child. It, If You Had Wings, and The Haunted Masion were the only 2 rides I can remember purchasing extra tickets for. Now I understand when a ride HAS to be removed (20,000 Leagues due to cracking concrete between it and the utilidors), but why couldn't they compromise on Toad? I have looked at the blueprints and it would be very possible to redo Toad and make room for Pooh at the same time even if they had to put Pooh in the same quadrant as Toad. Simply, dare I say it, tear out Toad and REBUILD it into a single track similar to Disneyland, take out Lumiere's Kitchen next door (it's rarely open anyway and Pinocchio's is across from it) and build the other track through what would have formerly been Lumiere's. I disagree with some others that Pooh could go in Toon Town Fair as it fits better with Fantasyland. As a stock holder and extemely frequent visitor to the parks (over 100 in the past 4 years), I hate to see Disney do anything that hurts the most important thing about Disney, its FANS. I enjoy taking my son now and he enjoys Toad as much as I did and still do. Many things have happened since Walt's and Roy's death that they would not approve of: Pleasure Island, Westside, McDonalds on property, etc. Some they would approve of: Moderate Hotel pricing (All Star Resorts, Coronodo Springs), improvements in themed Waterparks, the Animal Kingdom (Walt loved wildlife), etc. Although the attraction is closed at this time, I hope that if we yell loud enough, there is still time to modify the plans. At least I can say I was there on the last day and rode both tracks with my wife and son one last time. I still love Disney, but please Michael, think about what Walt would have wanted. Don't subscribe to that loser Katzenburgh's view that what Walt would want is irrevelant since he's dead and no one could know what he would want anyway. I refuse to see any SKG animated movie after the fiascos that Katzenburg put into the Disney movies while he was there (subliminals, things hidden in artwork [Mermaid], etc.). I do call on anyone who values Toad to continue to support Toad after his death by resisting the urge to try the Pooh ride. If the ride doesn't garner as much attendance, then maybe Disney will rethink its move. Also for anyone interested, I learned that at next years Disneyana Convention auction, there will be Toad items from the ride including a few of the cars up for grabs. Other items are going to Disneyland, and most of the cars are being saved for "a future attraction" according to a Disney spokesman.
From: Jennifer Newton <jennifernewton@mci2000.com>

this has always been one of my favorite rides - i used to run back and forth getting on each side. i just took my daughter for her first (and what looks like her last) time in january and she loved it.

my mom's server isn't working, but she wanted me to express her dissatisfaction also. we have come to be avid pooh haters, since he seems to be all disney cares about marketing. we won't buy any more merchandise with the 100 acre woods gang on it until they start marketing their other characters as well. i actually cried when my husband first told me about this - please say its not too late, or that they have had a change of heart!!
From: Sue Chalenski <sue@albany.net>

Being in the web business, I fully understand the phenomenon of modern progress. "Out with the old, in with the new" seems to be the catch-phrase for anyone concerned with staying current and cutting edge. Because of this, I can understand Disney's reasoning in replacing Mr. Toad with Pooh (the current hot ticket character). Condone it, however, is something I refuse do.

Disney is a self-proclaimed 'magic-making' industry. While the new Pooh ride will undoubtedly 'make magic' for many new visitors, the ones that have been left behind by Mr. Toad's extinction will no doubt outnumber. My first trip to the Kingdom with my boyfriend found me being excitedly hustled into the Toad line. Having never ridden the ride myself before, I was told about how my lovable now-22-year-old man had gone there as a young kid and it was so much fun and it was his favorite ride and it was the only one we HAD to go on and and and... It was an absolute blast--a refreshing break from all the steroided super-effects in some of the other rides. Toad was simple, heart-pounding fun (the way the campy movie "The Exorcist" is much scarier than any modern-day effects-crazed horror movie could ever be), and an instant favorite of mine. I was crushed to hear of its closing. Long live toad!

Speaking of Disney no-no's, what's with Epcot's revised Illuminations? The best part was when they highlighted each country and played the music--very moving. Now it's just a homogenized score with nothing nearly as spectacular. Blech.
From: M. Marder <mmarder@uiuc.edu>

Why?

That was my favorite ride there, I hate Winnie the Pooh, well, I've been going to D-World for almost twenty years now, this is not right.
From: mrtoad90@aol.com

I grew up to the zany and wonderful exploits of J. Thaddeus Toad. Now they want to shut down the ride at Disney World. What's America coming to?
From: The Hurn <thehurn@aol.com>

PLEASE SAVE THE FROG [MR TOAD] YOU MUST NOT HANG THE FROG OR RUN HIM OVER .......SIR MR TOAD GET UP BRUSH YOUR SELF OFF AND KEEP GOING THE RIDE MUST GO ON.................
From: Andy Cass <andycass@cassdesign.com>

I sit here with tears in my eyes! I can't believe you are closing Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. This is one of the few Disney rides I still remember as a child at Disneyland. Please don't end the wild ride. You are Disney, the largest promotion company in the world! Re-invent him. Give him a fresh lease on life. Just imagine recapturing all the adults who remember Mr. Toad - Give us a reason to come back and enjoy Disney too. We'll bring our kids!
From: mrdisney7@aol.com

i've loved mr. toads wild ride since i was a kid. i once stood in line for one hour to go on the ride. i think it's just as good a ride as space mountain, pirates of the caribean, and splash mountain. when i read in the paper that they were closing the ride i cried. i wanted to jump on a plane, go to walt disney world and go on the ride a millon times. if i had the money i'd pay over half a billon dollars to have the ride in my back yard.
From: A Disney Employee <address withheld by request>

Hey JT, just saw the news. It's a sad, sad day for Walt Disney World, let me tell you. What really gets me is that I haven't been to WDW in over two years, and I never got to say goodbye. Luckily for me out in California is that Disneyland still has Toady, and hopefully they're too busy taking out the Skyway and the Subs to mess with him.

You put up a good fight, one that was almost certainly doomed from the start, I'm afraid. You should be congratulated for bringing the Disney Internet community together around this issue, and preaching the friendly way to be heard. Just don't stoop to namecalling at this point. (Especially with Mr. Eisner, he's sort of an important guy!)

And lastly, don't listen to me differently just because I have a "disney.com" attached to my e-mail. It really doesn't make me anyone. The folks at WDW probably made this decision, this foolish, foolish decision, so long ago that they haven't even thought twice about it. And even if they did, what could they do now? I tell you that I really hoped that they would change their minds, but I knew that that chance was one in a million. Eisner probably doesn't care, either. Hate to bring you down man, but this is the way that it is.

So next time you're in California, let me know. We'll hit Disneyland and ride Mr. Toad all night. It's not the same, I know, but it's better than Pooh. (Granted brain surgery is better than Pooh ...)

Sorry to be a silent supporter, but that's how it's got to be (for now!) When I'm in charge there'll be Toad out of our ears. Count on that.
From: James Trynosky <james_2002trynosky@usmma.edu>

I am currently a plebe at The United States Merchant Marine Academy. I was disheartened to learn that Walt Disney World would be removing my favorite ride.

I have always enjoyed this ride since the first time I was on it. I was 5 years old. Since then I have visited the park on three other occasions making sure I was able to ride on Mr. Toad. I'm not sure what drew me to this particular ride. Personally I feel it is less conventional, even very un-Disney. But I can tell all of you that It sure as heck beats splash mountain any day of the week. Personally I can't see waiting two hours to go on a sub par log flume with some singing characters. Both times that I had the privilege to ride on that abomination I didn't get touched by a single drop of water one of these times I was sitting in the front seat. Why waste all that time when you can stand on line for a few minutes to ride Mr. Toad? I would also like to mention that What happened to 20,000 leagues under the sea is a crime. That ride was also a classic and one of my favorites. I was very displeased on Grad Night when I was told the ride no longer operated and they might be taking it out.

I once read that Disney owned an area of land the size of Rhode Island in Florida. With that amount of space (a little over 1/4 of it is used thus far) Disney could open an entire theme park devoted to Winnie The Pooh entitled "The Hundred Acre Woods" or maybe get rid of that lame Mickeys Toon Town Fair or what ever it's called, and build the woods there. Why must Mr. Toad suffer?

Personally I have seen enough corporate greed on the part of Disney and many other companies...aka... WAL*MART. Whatever happened to pleasing the consumer? Many of my friends, at home and even people at the academy here who I barely know agree with me. It is such a shame to see Mr. Toad and his aptly titled "Wild Ride" torn down for a ride that from the sounds of it has the potential to be as annoying as Splash Mountain! I am glad I had the chance to visit it in May at Grad Night and during a week I spent at WDW in June.

I tell people this and they think I am insane but here goes. If you have read this long winded narrative you have earned a good chuckle! I wanted to get married on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I have heard of people getting hitched on the Cyclone at Coney Island and at other amusement parks. Well I wanted mine to be on the Wild Ride, because from what I have seen that's what married life is! Heck I think it would be a great way to start out but apparently Eisner has different plans for me and other fans of the Toad Man.

Thanx for posting this and I am terribly sorry to hear of Toad's passing in Florida. Congratulations on a job well done trying to keep him alive and I thank you for your effort even though it may seem like it was for nothing.
From: Manny <mcv458@aol.com>

God save Mr. Toad!!!

[Addition]

I received your Final Toad Report. Reading it brought me to tears. I'm 18 and I've been to Disney World many, many times. I just couldn't believe it when I heard that they were going to replace the ride. I remember the first time I went on Mr. Toads Wild Ride. I was with my parents and my younger brother. We both insisted on driving, so my mom went in one car with my brother. They took the left side, my father and I took the right. Needless to say it was a day I'll always remember, hell my father scared the crap out of me in the tunnel with the "train." He started yelling, telling me to turn the wheel to avoid it. And I frantically turned the wheel as fast as I could. When I saw we weren't going to avoid it I let go and covered my eyes, awaiting our lives to end. When nothing happened I opened my eyes, looked up to my dad who was laughing. I had a great time even if we did wind up in hell... I just want to thank you and the others for everything that you did. If I lived in Orlando, or if I had the money to fly down there (poor college student in NYC), I would've been there with you and all the others. God I wish you would've won. When I think of what's being to my favorite place in the world, it brings me to tears.
From: Diana Crockett <wildwubber@redshift.com>

This really is the WORST news.......I just don't understand.....it is such a keen ride!!!!

I am writing Disney and printing out your flyer and shouting from the roof tops! aggghhhhhhhhhhhh.

I am passing out flyers.......boy I sure wish I had heard about this SOONER!!!!!!!!!

What a GREAT site and you all are so very fun!!!

Gribbit!
From: Rebecca Ann List <q629@academic.truman.edu>

My friends and I are all behind you in your quest to save Mr. Toad and his wild ride!

Save Mr. Toad!
From: Amanda <sail428@aol.com>

i think this isn't fair. this ride is great. it was always a tradition for my sister and i to go on it, when she came with us to disney world. now because of this, our tradition is broken. disney world will not be the same without this ride. it made me start to cry when i read all of that information about the ride closing, and i am still crying. i will feel bad for all those kids who loved that ride, or the kids who never got to go on it, because now they can't. why did they shut the ride down anyway? why do they have to put that winnie the pooh ride there. it should go somewhere else. this isn't fair for me and everyone else who loved that ride. disney will never ever be the same anymore (i know i said this earlier in the letter). well thank you for taking the time to read this.
From: DFR <rowerdbb@aol.com>

Thank you for leading us in a gallant fight!
From: Maria <marie2398@aol.com>

I was fifth to last to ride Mr. Toad's Wild Ride with my boyfriend - Dumbo98. We are also not happy about the change in attractions... It will not be the same without Toad... :(
From: hankspain@aol.com

If you think about what is happening Disney is actually enhancing the name of Mr Toads Wild ride by giving him the very Unfortunate wild ending. Despite all the efforts to save him this part of his wild ride appears to be the toughest! What could be worse than the sight of Mr Toad being literally ripped apart and physically ceasing to exist! I know that the end of the ride has the devil cackling at Mr. Toad but who would ever imagine that the devils character would be played by DISNEY!!!
From: Madison <sslever@aol.com>

My family is very sad to hear that Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is being torn down. It was our favorite ride on our trip to Disney this past summer. We rode the ride 4 times in two days. I went to Disney World with my mom and dad and brother. I am 7 years old and my brother is 3. We hope you can convince Disney to change its mind. Thank you.
From: lahtka@aol.com

Poor Mr. Toad. We will never forget him.
From: Pat Helton <pat@adamshelton.com>

I just heard the horrible news yesterday on National Public Radio.

I live in San Jose, CA - about 600 miles (give or take) from Anaheim's Disneyland. So THAT'S the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride that I know and love. But to close that ride ANYWHERE is insufferable. It's my very favorite!!!!!
From: Gilbert B. Cross <gcross@mich.com>

I have taught this book in my classes at Eastern Michigan University for over 25 years. I first heard this book read by my second grade teacher. I am now 59 years old.

Anything that gets children excited in advance about Kenneth Grahame's only novel is extremely valuable. There is more to learn of life in this book than almost any other--adult or children's. Of course Winnie the Pooh is a very important book. Surely there is place at Disney for both rides. Remember, it is vital to get children interested in reading the books that have stood the test of time and thrilled them in the millions.

Poop! Poop!
From: Joshua Phillips <kamikauz@aol.com>

My friend and I used our tickets on Labor Day so we could get one more ride on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. We were in the long line at the end, but right when we were about to pass into the main, winding line, a Disney worker named SALLY placed two trash cans in front of us and would not let us or any others in. We were shocked that we had waited in line and would never again have the chance to ride the ride again. But to make up for it, when we got back to the Contemporary, we stuck one of the Mr. Toad green flyers onto a Winnie the Pooh picture on the wall! Long live Mr. Toad!
From: flanagan74@aol.com

I am very interested in this effort to keep the ride as I just found out that 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is gone and that was a favorite of mine.
From: A Disney Employee <address withheld by request>

R.I.P. Mr. Toad...

As a cast member working with you was a pleasure... You will be missed by all!
From: Michael Szorentini <rallyeone@mail.creativeonline.com>

I just wanted to thank you and all your compatriots for your great effort to save this worthy attractions. My family has always enjoyed out visit to Toad Hall. I had sent out letters to many of the people you listed on your site and apparently it had little effect (and I'm a stockholder). I will send another volley of letters today with the hope they might find a new spot for Pooh.

Otherwise I will be with you in spirit outside Toad Hall today. Thank you again for all your hard work.
From: Jonathan Green <jonathan@careerpath.com>

I'm sorry I couldn't have added my voice of support to your campaign, but I only heard about it yesterday on NPR.

On a childhood trip to Disneyworld, I was looking for big thrills, and considered Mr. Toad only a guilty pleasure. As an adult living in driving distance of Disneyland, I appreciate it as the best ride there is. Where else can one die and go to hell after a short wait?

I can understand why they's want to put the marketable Pooh in a ride, but why does Mr. Toad have to go? Just because the ride is better than the movie? No fair. They aren't planning on shuttering it at Disneyland, are they?
From: Roger Katzenberg <rkatzenberg@ka-architects.com>

Just letting you know that the Toad closing aired on the morning show at local Baltimore TV station WJZ (a CBS affiliate) approximately a week and a half ago. They gave the issue a good review, not just the usual 5 second sound byte. One of the hosts even added his own pleasant recollections of the ride!

The Toad was the first ride my wife and I went on at our first visit to WDW, and was always one of our favorites. My son, now four, has always loved it as well. It was one of the few rides at WDW, and the ONLY one in Fantasyland, which he loved to do over and over again, "steering" the car through all of its imagined danger. Why Disney feels the need to replace it, instead of adding Pooh elsewhere, is beyond me. I have always loved Disney and the lengths they will go to do something right. This, however, is just wrong. But I'm not the first Katzenberg to feel the long arm (or is that the shaft) of Disney... I will truly miss the Toad!

Thanks for all your effort, and for all you have done. Though I could not be at the Toad-Ins, I lived them through your words and pictures. I hung on every e-mail, including the fizzled "surprise" saga. Though defeat may be in sight, what you did was not futile.
From: David Burroughs <burroughs@blunn.co.uk>

I read your homepage before I went to WDW and now I see why you want to save it. So come on everyone help save Toad's ride.
From: A Disney Employee <address withheld by request>

My dear, you are a very courageous young man. I had heard about your website, but didn't visit it until it was too late. I sat and watched the ride go under, as ashamed as I am to admit it, but I work for Disney! If I had said anything, Dear Mr. Dick Weiss would be down my throat in a heartbeat. Ah well, I am very happy that someone had the guts to go against "The Rat Men," even though it could not have been me, I am very happy it was you and all of the others. I wish you luck and Let Toad Live On!
From: Glen Ricca <ricca@sainet.net>

Mr Toad is the only ride besides Pirates of the Caribbean that really scared me when I was little, the Haunted House didn't even scare me. It still makes me jump but that's what I love about it! Disneyworld just won't be the same without it. :-( I wish i could ride it one last time. And what kind of a ride is Pooh going to be?!?!!??!?! Disney doesn't need another keddy ride!
From: Jonathan <simplyshag@aol.com>

What? I am shocked! Close Mr. Toad's Wild Ride? The only ride I can take in Fantasy Land? (I'm sorry, but "Small World" gets on my nerves!) NOOOO! Say it ain't so! Somebody do something! I remember me, my brother, and my dad would bond on that ride!
From: heyjenfer@aol.com

I learned of the fate of Mr. Toad at 6:50pm, Labor Day while I was at the Contemporary Hotel, about to go home for the day. Horror-stricken, I RAN ALL THE WAY (well, as much as I could...I'm not an athletic person) to the gate from the hotel where a wonderful CM let me in without asking for a ticket and said "if you run, you might make it". Suffering terribly from being out of shape, I ran and hobbled the rest of the way to the Wild Ride. I walked along the line asking where the end was and was told to sneak in front of HIM (him being the security guy trying to cut off the line). It was 7pm exactly. I still don't know how I ever made it. I was able to experience motormania one last time, and say goodbye to a piece of my childhood. It was a horrible thing to witness, but at least I can say I was there to see Toad off merrily on his way to nowhere in particular.
From: Jim <wilmar2211@aol.com>

I heard the report on NPR this morning and I have to say I was unpleasantly surprised: I had not seen that Toad was to be trashed in favor of a Pooh attraction. Of course it goes without saying that we all love the ride, even if it's old and technologically "unadvanced." I still remember vividly the scenes of hitting the train straight on and ending up in hell: and this is from my early childhood!

Well, even though today is the last day for Toad, I had to write and view my support of an old favorite.
From: bravfan1@gte.net

I'm going to Disney on Friday, & I can't believe Mr. Toad won't be there. How sad!
From: Joanne Osband <josband@localaccess.com>

I must have had my head in the sand!!! This is the first I have known .......and it is too late!!!!!!!! So sorry.....I am happy to hear of all that you have done to save Toad. You are a winner in my eyes! Thank you for standing by. Going to be a LONG day!
From: Ken & Helene Hall <knhhall@kans.com>

We took our boys to MK this summer for the first time. They LOVED the Wild Ride. They rode it numerous times. It was also one of my favorites when I was a kid. I hate to see it go. Thanks for trying to save it!
From: Rick Fox <blackhol@earthlink.net>

Tonight I will light a candle and shead a tear for Mr. Toad and all the children who will not be able to enjoy the ride as I and so many others have done.

Thanks for all you're doing to SAVE MR. TOAD.

Luckily the Mr. Toad ride will be saved here in Los Angeles, but I just learned this week that they are shutting down the submarine ride. I didn't find out until the day it happened and didn't get a chance to ride it once last time. I'm angry!

I was also incredibly upset when they ruined Space Mountain. First they added these horrible TV screens and play Space Mountain TV while you're in line. It's really one big advertisement for Fed Ex!! The line used to be moody and surreal. The music was weird old fashioned electronic space sounds. It was brilliant. Not it's ruined. Then they added MUSIC to the ride itself. How could they? What once was a zen-like, timeless experience, now is all reved-up ride that isn't all that fast but now isn't a work of art, either.

We thought about protesting when this happened. We talked about it, but we didn't do it. All talk, no action. You have done more. Keep up the fight, we are with you!!!
From: Allison Furlong <allison_furlong@hotmail.com>

It is one of my favorite rides in Disneyworld. I have taken many rookie visitors on this ride and given them our families history on this great ride.
From: Michael J. Greco <etruscan@compuserve.com>

I just sent Disney a lengthy e-mail condemning their decision -- I was shocked to hear it was even under consideration! I took the ride first in '71 and was totally jacked. My college roommates and I all had independent recollections of MTWR on our spring break trip in '83, so we went back and took the Ride again! I also told them that my own roadway driving record is "squeaky clean," no thanks (or perhaps OWING) to MTWR (let's hope the yahoos in their Bureaucracy Dept. haven't gotten rid of their senses of humor!). Thank you for fighting this absurd (anti-)creative choice -- I think WDW will be TOTALLY insipid without MTWR.
From: Ronald Koder <rlk@intrepid.chm.jhu.edu>

Yet another example of short-sighted marketing jerks running a good business into the ground.
From: Cara <rrthree@aol.com>

it's so sad that they're getting rid of my favorite ride ever at disney. there's nothing else at disney really, i mean i loved the 20,000 leagues under the sea ride, apparently that's gone as well. i can recall so clearly the first time i went on that ride. i remember exactly what i wore and who i was with. i remember standing on line sooooooooooo excited. and it was my very first ride that kinda jerked you around. and i was scared to fall out and it helped to build my love or rollercoasters. it's my fav.
From: Wesley Bailey <weazlwerkz@earthlink.net>

I wish to offer to you, my sympathies concerning the "unfortunate demise" of Mr. Toad in Orlando. I write to you from the L.A. area, where I am to understand, is the last homesite and vestige, to our zany and beloved.....Mr. Toad. My deepest sympathies to "Toadphiles" of the Eastern seaboard. It's a tradgedy that the evil dark Mickey, is willing to commit "Bufocide" in order to secure the almighty dollar. I can remember my first trip to Disneyland. I was 6 years old, not quite tall enough to ride the rollercoasters that my siblings and cousins waited in line for, so mom took me to the part of the park they shunned. The first ride for me, was that of my favorite smiling lunatic amphibian friend, Mr. Toad. A bedtime story changed forever! After that none of the other rides ever compared to Mr. Toads "world". As a California native, Disneyland was a constant through the years. Now, realized and dubbed "Mousewich", my journeys to the beloved childhood dreamland have tapered sharply. Once in a great while, my sister with her 2 daughters in tow come up to visit. We go to the mecca of monetary plunder to appease the young ones. So, as my duty as Uncle, I customarily drag them to the ultimate historical (and most redeeming aspect of evil D) Mr. toads wild ride. At 6'5" it's not quite as comfortable as it used to be, but once seated, nothing matters but going through those doors. Well enough of my sentimental ramblings, I caught your site from a story in the news.
From: Ryan Hunter <drhunter@atl.mindspring.com>

I really appreciate what you guys are doing. There's something about Disney that sets it apart from other parks, from other companies. Part of it is that they're just so good at what they do, but there's something beyond that. That's the Disney magic we hear so much about. Now, I understand that Disney is not perfect; they make mistakes. Lately, however, they seem to be making a lot more than usual. They're letting money be a bigger factor than the joy they can bring to the fans. If they aren't careful, they'll lose that magic, the spirit that Walter Elias Disney intended his parks to have. I don't agree with many things they've done recently. For instance, in the past several years, Disney has released cheap sequels to some of their animated features. Pocahontas was a beautiful movie, but when Disney puts their integrity at the mercy of the need to make a buck, we get movies of inferior quality, like "Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World." The Mr. Toad thing is like that. I understand that Disney must always expand; Walt wanted it that way. I also understand that sometimes older rides must be eliminated in order to make room for newer ones. For instance, when Mission to Mars was removed to make room for Alien Encounter, I just shrugged my shoulders and didn't think that much of it. But Wild Ride is a classic! To destroy it would be like destroying the Jungle Cruise or Pirates of the Carribean. Disney needs to watch themselves. One day they may turn around and find themselves no more special than a Six Flags.
From: sandiw875@aol.com

Please save Mr. Toad. This ride makes Disneyland. I can't believe they would do this. If Mr. Walt Disney himself was still alive then he would not allow this awful matter to take place.
From: Dr. Morbido <drmorbido@aol.com>

At the top of my Disneyworld pantheon is the holy trinity:
Haunted Mansion
Pirates of the Caribbean
AND MR. TOAD'S WILD RIDE!!!!!!!

The "new" Disney apparently doesn't care about anyone's childhood memories. They've already taken down more than one of the classics that I remember as a kid. I mean, I admit 20,000 Leagues under the sea didn't quite stand the test of time as well as The Mansion and Pirates did as far as technical innovation goes, but couldn't they have just upgraded it? And do we really need a Little Mermaid attraction?

I've also noticed Disney's Scroogish attitude towards releasing the classics that we grew up with as children. It seems that everyone has a particular movie that they treasured in their childhood that's now harder to find than an under $1 beverage in the Magic Kingdom. My childhood Disney favorite was The Black Hole. Try finding that on video. My heart broke a few years ago when I saw the once malevolant Maximillian robot, which scared the bejeezus out of me when I first saw it on the silver screen, strung up like a dead cat in one of the buildings on the MGM lot.

And while we're at it, let's see a Black Hole ride in the Magic Kingdom. Now that would rock. Think of what they could do with all of the new advances. But now I'm getting megalomaniacal.

So what.
Bring back the classics!
HAIL TOAD!!!!!!
From: ruby1001@aol.com

Please save the TOAD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: lemiz94@aol.com

I am in Charlotte,NC and went to Disneyworld in June for 2 weeks. I have been every year for the past 8 years and i have taken my 4yr old daughter for the past 3 years. I am originally from London and was brought up reading Mr Toad adventures. I love that ride and when we enter the Magic Kingdom, we always go to FantasyLand first and ride on Mr Toad, Peter Pan and Snow White. I was so upset to hear that the Disney nasties are closing the ride down. I have sent an e-mail to them in support of keeping the ride open. Surely, they have space to open a Pooh Bear ride somewhere else! I told them that DisneyWorld will never be the same when Toad has gone. Thank you for informing us about this news.
From: Terry Mann <tmmann@students.wisc.edu>

I only wish I would have heard about this sooner...I would have been a huge supporter!!!
From: Jeff Carey <jeffreycarey@usa.net>

So so sad to see JT go - I guess one more reason to go to Disneyland! Hey if anyone videotapes the whole ride (including the naked woman side!), I would love to have a copy (something I never got around to and now will not have the chance to!).

I just got to say that Pooh ride better be incredible! If its just like another "Pinocchio" (the last Fantasyland dark ride done at DL), I will be very upset. The stock market is obviously already reacting!
From: Ted Rose <trose99@email.msn.com>

Disneyworld now, DisneyLAND later, if we don't stand UP !!!
From: Heather Molter <dsneyholic@aol.com>

I, too, am very disturbed by the demolition of Toad Hall.
From: Tim Sanders <tims@orlinter.com>

for the love of my brother donald , please save this ride!!!!!!!!
From: April <avril@udel.edu>

i did not visit your site for several months, and now i see the news that mr. toad will indeed be closed. i am filled with regret because i was not able to go on the ride at my last visit. i thought i would have the chance on my honeymoon this october, but apparently not. i can only hope that there is a last minute change of heart.

thank you so much for keeping the public informed about mr. toad. on my last visit, i was vainly searching for the 20 000 leagues under the sea ride with no clue that it was gone- a castmember informed me, and i stood staring at the empty tracks with disbelief. i am afraid to see the changes to the tiki room on my next visit. at this rate, the jungle cruise will be revamped! maybe i am some sort of old-timer (i am 24), but i think these attractions, however old and campy they have become, need to be preserved to remind us that america has a past.

thanks again for your efforts.
From: Leslie N. Herschler <landj626@net999.com>

MR. TOAD'S WILD RIDE can never go. It has always been my favorite Fantasyland ride. I also have several neighbors who love it. I especially love Mr. Winkels bar.

First Disneyworld and then Disneyland! (Disney is on record as saying that they will NOT remove Disneyland's Toad Ride-for the new Pooh ride they are thinking about)...

Mr. Toad is the ONLY ride I like in Fantasyland. SAVE MR. TOAD, RATTY, et al.
From: James Froehlich <jfroehl768@aol.com>

If you're gonna get rid of a ride in Fantasyland, make it Peter Pan's Flight, the ride is a BORE!
From: Kate Betton <paneuro@nh.ultranet.com>

Everytime I go to Disney World, something else has been lost: the magic shop, the penny arcade, Horizons, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Dreamflight... not to mention the sickly- saccarine PC bastardization of Pirates of the Caribbean. Walt Disney World has always been fun but now with its rampant materialism (how many rides empty into shops now?) it's almost impossible to not see Mickey as the corporation symbol he is. Mr. Toad's Wild ride is the last straw. Mr. Toad is a traditional staple of the Disney experience. Unfortunately, his ride doesn't empty into a store full of overpriced items small children will beg their parents for. Disney needs to hire some creative Imagineers instead of corporate savages.
From: Laura Rivas <savirel@aol.com>

I was fortunate enough to ride with Mr. Toad this summer but I hope it's not the last time!...

I know many fellow Disney cast members that are just as upset about this conspiracy...
From: B. McClure <opus3434@aol.com>

Hello Miami Canes! I knew it would take a group from my alma matter to try and save Senior Toad. Lets do all we can. According to todays Detroit Free Press [you are getting a lot of coverage] the ride is comical, however it ends in Hell with Devils. Well it doesn't take rocket science to see who is doing all the complaining! And this religious group was out to boycott Disney early this year. So, I think Disney is caving in. When we visited the park in '91 the line was so long for this ride, you would not believe! So Michael Eisner, are you listening? Please save the Toad for the rest of the Toad lovers out there.
From: Caryl Multz <caryl@dmk.org>

The reason I got interested in this at all, was because I had a dream about Mr. Toad's Wild Ride the other night (for no apparent reason, because it was the furthest thing from my mind). Then I get in my car to drive to work the next morning, and they start talking about "the cause"...first I ever heard of it.

Pretty bizarre, huh?

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride has always been a favorite, but I've never been to Florida...only Anaheim...
From: preturb@aol.com

I think you did a wonderful job letting people know what Disney was doing to Mr. Toad. While I am not as big a fan of the ride as you are, I am angry that Disney is ripping out the ride and replacing it with Pooh. For the life of me, I never understood why Disney never updated Toad to make it more like the version in California!! However, I did love riding Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and always went on it when I visited WDW.

What makes me so mad is that we know the real reason a Pooh ride is not built from scratch---Disney is cheap, and they want an attraction to open in 1999 to help compete with Universal's Islands of Adventure (Interesting how Disney "adds" attractions).

Disney seems to love trumpeting the fact that so much is coming in 1999. Big freakin' deal-----they should have started adding more attractions 10 years ago. Hopefully Islands of Adventure will be a big hit and people will realize that Disney is short-changing its customers. I can't believe I am saying this about Disney, but these days I feel like Busch Gardens does a better job operating a theme park.

Again, I think you did a great thing sticking up for Mr. Toad (GREAT SITE, by the way!). Unfortunately, it seems like Disney just wants to sell the world more Pooh plush.
From: Yearly Passholder for Now <byron19@aol.com>

I think that if they close the toad it will break a lot of hearts of young and old. It's been there forever and should stay there till the end. Keep the toad alive!
From: Sarah Strate <smile5336@juno.com>

Hi, my name is Sarah. I'm 12 years old. On the September edition of the Tampa Tribune, I discovered Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was closing. I first went to Disney world when I was about three years old. So of course my favorite rides were in Fantasyland. So this ride means alot to me and everyone I know. I want to go to the Magic Kingdom and support you, but my family doesn't have enough money.
From: Rick Mattos <spiderrose@aol.com>

You've gotta save Toad's Ride. Where else can you commit felony auto theft, go to hell, and call it good family fun.
From: Kristin Ginalick <ginalick@fleishman.com>

Mr. Toad has always been one of my favorites.
From: Paul Rodriguez <mppr@ix.netcom.com>

I am terribly upset about this, but take some small solace from the fact that Toad will still live in Anaheim.

Why do I love Mr. Toad's Wild Ride? You drive around in a car, breaking the law and wreaking havoc. Then you die and go to hell. I should have known that today's Disney would never let this stay in favor of their bland Pooh. Of course they prefer the bear to the Toad (not that I don't like Winnie, he's just been co-opted).

Hail Eris! Hail Discordia! Hail Toad!
From: Robert Perret <parrot5@prodigy.net>

I have just pulled the sad news off the AP wire. Even out in Colorado, I can feel the devastating loss of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, without a doubt the best ride at Disneyworld and Disney's coolest property. I am sorry your obviously great efforts didn't pan out. Know that there are others out there who feel the same shock and indignation. Mr. Toad's fate may be sealed, but I want to count myself among the people who protested this grievous mistake.
From: Heather Ferson <i_am_pooh_bear@yahoo.com>

I knew I was in trouble when I spent my last few hours in MK crying my eyes out because I was having such a lousy time -- I had brought my fiance there, for his FIRST TIME at Disney World. Cramped, dirty, materialistic. No magic for me. Even less for him -- although my nick-name is Pooh, and I would LOVE to see a Pooh ride someday, I agree -- try ADDING and IMPROVING -- not shoving, stuffing and DESTROYING, Disney!
From: Don Sanders <donds98@aol.com>

My first job ever was working at Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. It was always one of the most popular rides at WDW. I can't believe that they would even consider closing it down. I understood 20,000 Leagues, but this is just wrong.

Anyone who loved this ride as a kid (or an adult) owes it to all those other kids to save this ride.
From: Cory Edwards <tonkatron@aol.com>

I just heard about Toad's ride getting the axe, and I fear I am too late to help! Anyone who reads this: If this famous and fun ride is as nostalgic to you as it is to me, you'll petition keeping it, at this groovy website! They can't take this ride away from us. They musn't, they shan't! Even if Disney is a dictatorship, they have to listen to the people! If I can't take my kids to Disneyworld someday and watch them crash through a library in a Model T, hit that oncoming train in that dark tunnel and then go to Hell, what kind of world will this be??

What's next, It's a Small World? The Pirates Of The Carribean? Why not burn down the Statue Of Liberty while you're at it?? The line must be drawn here. Save the Mr. Toad ride! If this is trivial and stupid to you, then fine, YOU'RE stupid. Be a serious adult... see if I care. But I think the Mouse would want it this way.
From: Lorna and CJ <canders3@san.rr.com>

As my friend and I were purusing the important tidbits of information on the Information Hwy, we were stopped dead in our tracks by the MOST unsettling news of Mr. Toads impending demise. A trip to "Dizzy Land" is never complete without stopping at this wonderful arena. It is one of lifes sweet memories for it harks back to a place of innocence long forgotten. Or lets put it another way. In the beginning God created earth and Disney created Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. We last visited Disneyland in March and yes we did "The Ride". You can keep "Honey I Shrunk the Audience". We waited an hour with our 3 d glasses clutched in our hot little hands, only to be told they were having "techinical difficulties:" We never saw it..... Then we waited another hour only to be told the new "Rocket Ride" was not working right either. But our favorite toad ride chugged faithfully on. If the length of the wait is indicative of the popularity of the ride then you have a real winner in this ride. The next time that we are headed for Disneyland, (will there be a "next time without this to look forward to?) I want to be able to say to my daughter..."I'll meet you at Mr. Toads Wild Ride in an hour".
KEEP THE TOAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

p.s. Whats next? Pirates of the Carribean? Lorna and CJ
From: sweetp9883@aol.com

don't close mr. toad's wild ride...that's one of my favorites! if you are gonna make the winnie the pooh ride, place it somewhere else! don't destroy the classics! =(
From: Kasey Cook <guaranteedloan@alend.com>

This ride has been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. My mother rode it as a child, and still does to this day. I have been riding this ride since birth, and so has my son. I want him to be able to take his children on this ride in the future. Mr. Toads Wild Ride is always the first ride we go on at the beginning of the day, and the last one. Mr. Toads Wild Ride is not just a ride, it is a memory from childhood. There doesn't seem to be many places that you can go back to and remember your childhood anymore. Everyone wants to build malls over playgrounds and such. Taking away Mr. Toads Wild Ride will be destroying part of my history, and the histories of so many other people. If Disneyland needs to get rid of a ride why don't they start with their newest ride, Roger Rabbit? That is the worst ride I have ever been on. It is completely pointless, it jerks you in every direction, and Disneyland will end up closing it anyway because of law suits from injuries (just like they did with Autopia).

Please I beg of you don't get rid of Mr. Toads Wild Ride.
From: jackal8529@aol.com

I think it really sucks that they are closing Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. That was like the best ride in the whole park. It got you away from all of the smiley, happy crap for once. If they close that Ride, I'll never go to Disney again (or at least nearly as much).
From: Tim Hallisay <tim@sourcefile.com>

I must express my regret and remorse. I have never been to DisneyWorld, I am a California guy, and the Land is where I go. But Mr. Toad is an icon. The only Disney ride the lands you in Hell. What a bunch of finks. However, I encourage you to make a pilgrimage to the original Happiest Place on Earth, where Mr. Toads lives and breathes! Although they recently killed the PeopleMover (I haven't seen it yet), most of the integrity is still there (Aside from Eisner).

Long Live Mr. Toad
From: Jerry Edmonston <jerry@ajaxbuilding.com>

J. Thaddeus Toad is an icon! The ride itself is a classic. You don't do away with such history . . . you preserve it! Since Disney doesn't have a Smithsonian museum, you move the ride to the American pavilion in EPCOT. My son is 4 months old and there are many near-extinct species he'll never see . . . the least we can do is save the endangered Toad.

Relocate the Toad! Relocate the Toad! Relocate the Toad!
From: Monte Rhodes <mrhodes@promus.com>

PLEASE tell me this didn't happen? That the destruction of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is a bad joke or dream?!?!? I went searching for internet sites about Disney World because I am going there in mid-October for the first time in YEARS...since I was 13 or so. Anyway, as excited as I am about all the new technologically advanced rides, I was still excited about MTWR.
From: stick029@aol.com

This really is the pits. When we were at the magic kingdom in June, we rode the rides in the little kid section with my son and nieces, the oldest who was 8. It's A Small World is the cheesiest, most boring ride and so politically incorrect it is a nightmare. Then we rode Mr. Toad on our way out. I swear I have never laughed as much as I did then. It was the best ride in the whole park! The girls screamed like crazy when we almost ran into the train. I'm a Winnie the Pooh fan, but I don't think I could ride that ride knowing that it killed Mr. Toad to get there. Kill It's a Small World. That's all I have to say.
From: Scott Randall <srandall@inreach.com>

I happened across an article about Disney's discussion to go ahead with the retiring of Mr. Toad and thought I'd remind you of some other worth saving rides that disappeared. http://www.mcs.net/~werner/yester.html I think its wrong to retire any of their rides. They should expand if necessary. I loved America sings but oh well.

Sorry you didn't win.
From: E.S. Park <xcedrinod@yahoo.com>

Just wanted to write in support of what you all are doing. I really don't have any nostalgic reason for supporting the cause, but one of my fondest memories of Disney Amusement Parks is a few years back when I went home to L.A. with a couple friends from college and spent the day at Disneyland. The fireworks show was about to start, so while everyone was moving toward the Magic Kingdom, we went on Toad (my first time) maybe 10 or so times in a row - hop off, stand in line for a few seconds, hop back on. It became silly - towards the end we were chucking pennies at each other - trying to time our throws to take advantage of the doors to the next or previous ride segment, so the victim couldn't get you back immediately and the attacker could dig around for more change. I got caught with a nickel right in the side of the head as I burst through what I guess are the fiery gates to hell. We staggered out, exhilarated, to see the firework show...and that's when the acid kicked in.
From: Sue Rice <surice@sover.net>

I laughed and cried at the same time reading your detailed journey to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in Orlando. Back in 1966 we took our four children, then age 8, 6, 4 and 1 year to Disneyland in Anaheim. We were on our way to South Korea to work there for four years. Well, after Disneyland, our third son Mark; all he talked about for four years was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. We've kind of laughed about it as a family and wondered what he liked about it. He always wanted to work at Disneyland, he always said. He never got his wish, but it sure brought laughter and tears to my children as they read the e-mail I sent to each one of them of the demise of the ride.
From: Jason Ashley <jasona@warwick.net>

Here's what I wrote to Disney:

I can't believe you would close Mr. Toad's Wild Ride! That ride is AWESOME!!! I'm 31 years old and I would dearly love to introduce this wonderful ride to my children someday. It is SO much fun and a landmark to my childhood. What's next?? Pirates of the Carribean? The Haunted Mansion? There is NO ride that can replace Mr. Toad's no matter how cool the technology or how popular the subject matter. Mr. Toad is one of the handful of rides you tell first-timers that they MUST go on. I am so shocked and saddened at this turn of events that my faith in Disney is severely curtailed. That Disney could do such a thing is reprehensible. Has Mr. Eisner even ridden on Mr. Toad's?? You're cutting out a piece of my childhood I dearly wanted to share with my kids. Please, please, PLEASE, reconsider killing Mr. Toad.
From: Jonnie Weber <jonniewf@earthlink.net>

I accidentally heard of the possibility that Mr. Toads Wild Ride might be ending.

Well, I've got to tell you that I have always had a secret passion for this ride. I am a second generation Californian and was 18 before I ever went to Disneyland the first time. I now have 6 children and would be very disappointed to see this ride go the way of Captain EO.

It's not that I think it's the last bastion for any worn out values or a sy