Signup at the Toontown site is fairly standard-- choose an account name and a password, enter your birthday, and launch. If you're using a browser other than IE, or don't meet the system reqs (which we talked about last time) you may have an additional step or two to take, but other than that, the process is pretty direct. Toontown runs in its own fullscreen window, without the ability to minimize or switch among apps.

Like most online worlds, Toontown starts with the avatar creation process-- this one's colorful enough to put a smile on even the surliest of faces, with several different basic body models based on vintage-style Disney animals loosely resembling dogs, cats, bears and the like (and mice, of course). Users can mix and match three different body areas (head, torso and legs) in different colors and styles, and then customize the size proportions of each features for maximum toon-ish absurdity. Next, dress your Toon in clownish garb (girl clothes for a girl avatar, boy clothes for a male)-- since the colors and styles are fully customizable here, too. It wasn't long before I made an appropriately disproportionate, floppy-eared pink and purple cow (or maybe a horse)?

The naming process is fun, too. Names that users input will have to be run past moderators, but Disney offers a rich list of pre-made names. Since each name has three parts-- a kooky descriptor, a first name and a quirky last name-- the combinations are infinite. My cow-horse Toon ended up being named "Skinny Sandy Frinkelseed," which I thought suited her rather nicely, with her bulbous muzzle, round belly and long, twiggy legs.

The entire feel of Toontown actually resembles a kids' adventure PC game-- sandbox-style, with events and guidance-- more than the freeform 3D chat room that we generally think of when we think of kids' virtual worlds. The game starts with a very succinct tutorial-- not that much of one is needed, in a simple interface that relies largely on the keyboard arrows and a little point-and-click for menus. "Tutorial Tom" explains that Toontown is under threat of domination by straitlaced, monochrome suit-wearing baddies called Cogs, who want to subjugate Toontown's impractical architecture and bright colors into a world of gray banks and businesses. Tutorial Tom provides you with your first "gags"-- which are, exactly as they sound, classic cartoon objects like trapdoors, anvils and squirting flowers that are used to foil the cogs. And without further explanation, you try it for yourself. Pick a gag from your inventory and watch your toon beat a Cog by pie-ing him in the face.

The game provides a good deal of direction for play-- there's free movement, but you're always aware of what you're supposed to be doing. Earn the virtual currency, jellybeans, by playing games. The Toontown playground, in addition to shops and social areas, has a trolley that, when ridden, takes the user to one of a set of simple, user friendly-- but appropriately challenging-- minigames. The game you're presented with seems to be randomized, and there's no way to pick which one-- an effective way to ensure variety and to prevent users racking up currency too easily or quickly by exploiting the one game they're best at. The difficulty of the game depends on which neighborhood in Toontown you're playing.

Jellybeans can buy clothing, decorations and pets (called Doodles), in addition to new emotes and phrases for the avatar to perform. Disney-character NPCs can greet you by name when you pass them, but they can't converse extensively-- and despite the wide array of options available in the pre-set phrase menu, most kids seem to be questing and playing games on their own pretty exclusively, rather than hanging around talking.

Gameplay unfolds as you accept quests-- called "Toontasks" from NPC toons, who usually assign you a destination to visit, a Cog to defeat, or an item to retrieve. While on a Toontask, it's possible to deviate-- for example, to go to another location or play games instead-- but you're usually reminded of what you need to do. A menu in the form of a book lets you see what gags you're carrying and reminds you what quests you've accepted.

Toontown doesn't log you out-- your character will snooze in place if you're idle-- and seems to start you from your most recently-visited vicinity when you return.