Mickey’s Birthdayland Area near Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World, created to honor Mickey’s 60th birthday, from June 18, 1988 to April 22, 1990. At short notice, Disney executives decided that there should be a special area to honor the landmark birthday. A town, known as Duckburg, was quickly designed, and Disney artists helped the architects make it look cartoony. In order to build Mickey’s Birthdayland, the Grand Prix Raceway had to be moved slightly. When it was suggested that there should be a statue to Duckburg’s founder, the designers started coming up with ideas as to whom it should be, but one of the artists, Russell Schroeder, reminded them that there already was a founder of Duckburg, Cornelius Coot, in a comic book story, and he already had a statue in that comic book. Thus, the designers unexpectedly had something on which to base their statue. A train station was added along the route of the Walt Disney World Railroad, and special signs and displays lined the tracks leading from the Main Street station to Mickey’s Birthdayland. There was Grandma Duck’s Farm (a petting farm), a live show featuring Disney characters, Mickey’s house, and guests could even visit Mickey himself in his dressing room. After the birthday celebration was over the area became Mickey’s Starland, and was remodeled in 1996 as Mickey’s Toontown Fair.
