This amazing illustrated story came from Daveland reader Kurt Raymond. I can’t thank him enough for his generosity in taking the time to write the following paragraphs as well as sharing his collection of photos relating to his restoration of one of the murals from this beloved dark ride.
  On the left is the original 1955 Ken Anderson design/layout sketch of the ENTIRE “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” mural. This precedes the painting that was transferred to the canvas on the outer wall of the attraction. My source was a 16 X 20 print available for only a few months in 2005 (during Disneyland's 50th Birthday Celebration) at the Disney Gallery in New Orleans Square in the “Art On Demand” kiosk in the $30 - 50.00 range. This sketch was also featured (in a very small and practically thumbnail sized picture) in the pocket book “The Imagineer’s Field Guide To Disneyland,” 2008. Here it is in all its glory and much larger.
This was one of the only pieces Disney could find (and replicate) of any original 1955 art of the “Mr. Toad” attraction for the Gallery/50th kiosk. The other was the Bill Justice 1976 re-paint of the Mr. Toad cast portrait.
In addition, I have completely restored this entire mural (like Snow White and Peter Pan before it) in hi-rez and in full color, true to the 1955-1981 mural, even using a couple of the Daveland/Disneyland photos of the Nixon family riding the attraction for accuracy in hard to see places.
As I had mentioned before, the original mural had been painted so many times that my grainy Disneyland photos I based the restoration on showed many different color schemes over a 25 year period (the ‘Toad Car’ and locations in different colors, the cast of characters portrait featured different skin tones and off-model colored clothes, etc), so this is as true to that time period as I could get.
The current “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” tapestry painting in the load area is the only one of the three original dark rides whose mural even remotely resembles what came before it. Scenes featured on both the 1955 and 1983 versions (and in the same places) include, Ratty’s House, the “cast portrait,” Toad’s car heading towards the oncoming train, and the trip into “Hell.”
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