February 15,
2011
Pap the
Disney Gamer’s Highlights: Toontown Online
Developed
by: Walt Disney Internet Group
System:
PC
Just recently, many
Disney theme park fans, Brent
Dodge included, bid a sad farewell
to Mickey’s Toontown in
Walt Disney World in Florida.
A very bittersweet event as while
the closure of this park means the
arrival of an expanded
Fantasyland attraction,
Toontown has been delighting fans of
all ages for years, and its closure
means the end of a great legacy of
Disney magic.

In honor of
Toontown’s legacy, I decided to
highlight one of Disney’s first
online games: Toontown Online.
Released in 2003, Toontown Online
was billed as the first online game
aimed at children as young as seven
years old, as well as their
families. Players have the option of
downloading the game for free, and
then they can choose a free account
but with limited options or a paid
account with access to all of the
game’s content. A paid account can
be obtained using pre-paid Toontown
Online cards available in stores.
Once you do, you can create your own
toon character and explore Toontown.
Players can choose
from different animals, including
dogs, cats, and many more. Like many
online games of its kind, players
can interact with other players from
around the world, participate in
various events and face off against
the Cog Syndicate, a group of robot
ruffians who set out to disrupt the
joyous cartoon mayhem of Toontown.
They take everything too seriously
and never joke around.

Some of the
activities players can find in
Toontown Online include kart racing,
fishing, gardening,
miniature golf, toon parties,
raise your own doodles (the pets of
Toontown Online) and even party
hardy with Victory Parties,
celebrations players can enjoy when
they defeat the
Cogs in the game.

It wouldn’t be a
Toontown based game without your
favorite Disney characters, and
Toontown Online features them. There
are areas called Playgrounds that
are safe from the Cogs and you can
freely roam. In here you can meet
characters such as Mickey, Minnie,
Donald, Goofy, Daisy, Pluto, and
Chip ‘n’ Dale in different
themed areas within the Playground.
Since Toontown characters can’t be
defeated, they will, however, become
sad if they sustain too much damage
in battle. When they are too sad
they are transported to the
Playground where they can recuperate
their happiness and get things back
on track.

Of course, this
being a family game, great care has
been given towards the online
security features. Some common
features such as player versus
player combat and free chat have
been controlled in order to prevent
kids from interacting with
strangers. This doesn’t mean,
however, that there isn’t a form of
communication in the game. Toontown
Online features SpeedChat, a method
of online chatting that allows
players to see what they are saying.
If you want to talk further, players
can do so via the True Friend
option, which connects to a player
you know and trust.

Even if it doesn’t
fully replicate the fun of the
actual Toontown park, Toontown
Online does serve as a great
alternative for Disney fans who
enjoy online games but want
something more friendly and
inviting. You can create your own
Disney tale and just have fun keeping
the magic of Toontown alive in its
many facets.
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