Casey Jr. Circus Train, Circus-themed train ride in Disneyland Park, California, US.
Casey Jr. Circus Train is a 2 ft narrow-gauge railroad at Disneyland in California. Its locomotive is too small to hold an engine, so the first wagon pushes the train. The second wagon is an open carriage recycled from a Sunnyside Merry-Go-Round nacelle. The track is interwoven with the Storybook Land Canal Boats, showing the miniature scenes from another angle.
The train began running in California in 1955 as part of the park's original attractions shortly after Disneyland opened. A second version appeared in Paris in 1994 as a roller coaster with different track length and design that differs from the Californian model.
The ride takes its name and its locomotive from the train in the 1941 film Dumbo. At Disneyland in California the trains are pushed by the first wagon, because the small, detailed locomotive cannot hold a real engine; the mechanism was designed by engineer Bob Gurr. The open second wagon of each train is a nacelle from the Sunnyside Merry-Go-Round, removed when horses were added to the King Arthur Carrousel.
The ride lasts 3 minutes 30 seconds at Disneyland and 2 minutes 10 seconds in Paris. At Disneyland the entrance is on the west side, facing a sloping flowerbed that carries the attraction's name; the boats of Storybook Land Canal enter from the east. Because the train is interwoven with the canal route, the same miniature scenes appear from a different angle.
Arrow Development built this narrow gauge train with an internal combustion engine that offers elevated views of miniature scenes hidden from other spots in the park. The track shares its grounds with a second ride, so both attractions show the same landscapes from different angles.
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