The backward-facing skunk with his tail up in the air is one of the first critters young kids race toward when they clamor aboard the new Jessie’s Critter Carousel in Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure.

“Turning the skunk around, just knowing how skunks operate, that’s probably the dangerous end first,” said Pixar’s Steve Mason, who worked on the new attraction. “It just felt that would be a real blast if somebody’s got to ride a skunk backwards.”

Spencer Phillips, 24, made a special trip to Disney California Adventure to ride the new Jessie’s Critter Carousel at Pixar Pier in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The ride replaced King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A giant Jessie takes her place on the boardwalk at Pixar Pier outside Jessie’s Critter Carousel in Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The ride replaced King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Monica Yassa poses for a picture with her kids, Abigail Yassa, dressed as a barbie and Elizabeth Yassa, dressed as Jessie, outside Jessie’s Critter Carousel in Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The ride replaced King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Visitors to Disney California Adventure Park ride the new Jessie’s Critter Carousel at Pixar Pier in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The ride replaced King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Part of the hand painted mural that surrounds Jessie’s Critter Carousel is a nod to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The ride replaced King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea in Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)



A hand painted mural surrounds Jessie’s Critter Carousel in Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The ride replaced King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A hand painted mural surrounds Jessie’s Critter Carousel in Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The ride replaced King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The new Jessie’s Critter Carousel at Pixar Pier in Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The ride replaced King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The new Jessie’s Critter Carousel at Pixar Pier in Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The ride replaced King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A giant Jessie takes her place on the boardwalk at Pixar Pier outside Jessie’s Critter Carousel in Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The ride replaced King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)



A giant Jessie takes her place on the boardwalk at Pixar Pier outside Jessie’s Critter Carousel in Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The ride replaced King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The new Jessie’s Critter Carousel at Pixar Pier in Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The ride replaced King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A hand painted mural surrounds Jessie’s Critter Carousel in Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The ride replaced King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The new Jessie’s Critter Carousel at Pixar Pier in Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The ride replaced King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A hand painted mural surrounds Jessie’s Critter Carousel in Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The ride replaced King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Jessie’s Critter Carousel officially debuts Friday, April 5, in the new Pixar Pier land at Disney California Adventure. The new attraction has been in “soft opening” test-and-adjust mode for about a week.

The re-themed merry-go-round replaces the former King Triton’s Carousel between the Toy Story Midway Mania shoot-em-up dark ride and the entrance for the rethemed Incredicoaster in the rechristened Pixar Pier. The reskinned carousel is part of the second phase of an extensive Pixar makeover of the former Paradise Pier boardwalk area at the Anaheim theme park.

The fresh-yet-vintage look of Jessie’s Critter Carousel was inspired by Fisher Price toy carousels and spinning tin toys. The carousel is designed to look like an oversized child’s toy with a big red knob on top, just like the one you would push down to make a toy top spin. The red spiral steel roof trimmed with white lights adds to the spinning look of the design.

“When we initially started working on it, we knew that we wanted everything to have those super vivid primary colors,” said Walt Disney Imagineering creative director Debbie Gonzalez. “A lot of carousels tend to be very pastel or even metallic gold. We wanted ours to have a very toy-like shiny feel to it.”

The new attraction is set in the world of the 1950s-era “Woody’s Roundup” cartoon, the show-within-a-show in “Toy Story 2” starring Sheriff Woody and Jessie the yodeling cowgirl. The ride’s conceit is that the carousel is a toy owned by one of the kids in the “Toy Story” world and theme park visitors have been shrunk down to the size of a toy.

The backstory of Jessie’s Critter Carousel tells the tale of the feisty and exuberant cowgirl riding out with her critter pals to save the imperiled Prospector in a Wild West-inspired adventure. A 120-foot-long mural that serves as the backdrop to the attraction tells the whole story from beginning to end.

“It’s early one morning and the critters run into town to get Jessie to help,” said Mason, who designed the mural. “They rush past the sheriff and he’s like, ‘Go save the day, Jessie.’ They run with Jessie to go save the Prospector who has gotten trapped up on this rock over this rushing river.”

The carousel has eight different ride-on critters with saddles that are repeated on the ride in several color combinations. There are turtles, snakes, buzzards, armadillos, bunnies, deer, raccoons and skunks. A family of owls lives in two fallen tree bench seats for those who don’t want to go up and down on the carousel.

The wacky critters have a maniacal look in their bulging eyes, as if they’ve been out in the desert heat too long.

“They’re super cute, but they’re a little crazy too,” said Mason, Pixar Animation Studios associate creative director for theme parks. “That’s what makes them a lot of fun.”

The ride and mural expand on the humorous cast of critters in the “Woody’s Roundup” children’s television show, originally designed by Pixar artist Bud Luckey.

“That’s the charm of Bud’s original art,” Mason said. “It really captured that funny line between cute but a little maniacal. It fits with Jessie’s really exuberant character, too. You buy that they’re real pals. That they share this bond.”

The ride-on critters are painted a mix of vibrant primary colors. There are blue snakes, pink armadillos, purple raccoons, red buzzards and green turtles. The two skunks — one blue and the other purple — have proved to be the most popular critters, according to ride operators. Young riders eye their favorites before they ever board the carousel.

“I’ve seen all the girls running towards pink bunny,” Gonzalez said. “The boys have been running for either the snake or the skunk. It’s so funny.”

The 14-foot-tall hand-painted mural tells the attraction’s backstory from right to left as riders spin counterclockwise on the carousel. The right side of the mural starts with a howling coyote on a moonlit night. The left side of the mural ends with the Prospector and his gold nugget-laden donkey stuck atop a butte after a suspension bridge collapses.

In between, Woody can be seen in front of the swinging door of his sheriff’s office on the dusty streets of a Wild West town. Further along, a lasso-twirling Jessie rides astride her horse Bullseye amid a critter stampede racing toward the precipice of a steep cliff. A vulture perched on a prickly cactus anxiously eyes the imperiled Prospector and his donkey.

“I figured you’re going to see this a lot,” Mason said of the mural. “You’re going to go around a lot of times and I want to give the guests so much to look at that they can not take it all in in one or two passes, maybe even one entire ride. They’ll need to come back and do it again.”

The ride features six musical tracks, including the original “Woody’s Roundup” theme song. Four additional songs from the show-within-a-show — “Jessie, The Yodeling Cowgirl,” “Prospector Pete,” “The Ballad of Bullseye” and “Hey Howdy Hey” — were updated for the attraction. A new song, “Jessie Saves the Day,” tells the story of the attraction as depicted in the mural.

Jessie’s Critter Carousel is chock full of Easter eggs for hardcore fans.

There’s a Hidden Mickey in the mural amid the orange spots of a purple gila monster near the ride exit.

The mural pays homage twice to the dynamite-chewing Big Thunder Mountain billy goat. The TNT goat from the Disneyland roller coaster helps form a storytelling infinity loop on the spinning carousel. The goat shows up at the beginning and end of the mural as the instigator of the explosion that destroyed the bridge and stranded the Prospector.

The ride’s biggest Easter egg will be right under the noses of every rider who enters Jessie’s Critter Carousel. The entrance marquee features an 11-foot-tall Jessie lassoing a cactus festooned with a red flower.

In early concept art for “Toy Story 2,” Jessie’s role was played by a character named Señorita Cactus, an anthropomorphic potted plant sporting a red flower.

“We took that piece of concept art and actually made that our marquee,” Gonzalez said. “So Jessie is roping what was supposed to be her original character, Señorita Cactus.”

Early concept ideas for the re-themed carousel didn’t involve Jessie and the critters.

One of the creative team’s favorite ideas was a carousel seat in the shape of a TNT stick of dynamite.

“It was the funniest thing,” Gonzalez said. “But then when it actually came down to the physical ride mechanics, we realized it was no longer looking like the funniest stick of dynamite.”

In one instance, real-world considerations like rider safety trumped a plan to have theme park visitors sit on cacti.

Another Blue Sky plan called for riders to sit on the Toy Story characters, but it was hard to get them in scale with each other.

“We went through all the characters of Toy Story,” Gonzalez said. “The second someone said the critters, all of a sudden it was sold. There was no going back.”

The creative team considered including Jessie’s horse, Bullseye, among the critters but eventually jettisoned the idea.

“The scale of Bullseye would have been off to the critters,” Mason said. “It would have elevated one of them to a higher status. If you had one Bullseye, it might cause some fights.”

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Critters that didn’t make the cut on the carousel — like a porcupine, roadrunner and flying squirrel -— ended up in the stampede scene in the mural.

“Sometimes it was a sad moment when we had to say goodbye to the ones that were favorites but just didn’t work on a carousel,” Gonzalez said.

The second phase of the Pixar Pier makeover continues later this year with the addition of Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind, a re-skinning of the former Flik’s Flyers attraction. The spinning ride was part of the now defunct A Bug’s Land, which was demolished to make room for a new super hero land in 2020 with Marvel themed attractions.