Difference between revisions of "Mickey's PhilharMagic"

Revision as of 16:06, 22 February 2012

Mickey's PhilharMagic is an attraction located in Fantasyland.

Attraction Development and History

The creation of Mickey's PhilharMagic began in the early 2000s when Walt Disney Imagineering and the Walt Disney Feature Animation division teamed up to create a new attraction. The partnership had previously worked together to create Fantasmic! for Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disneyland. Walt Disney Imagineering created the attraction's storyline and choose the featured characters. They then turned the project over to Walt Disney Feature Animation who created the film. Many of the artists who worked on the characters in their original movie, contributed to both the storyline and animation process.

Mickey's PhilharMagic is a "4D" show that uses 3D technology, scents and water to tell a story. The film took over three years to complete, due to the fact that many characters had to be re-rendered in 3D. 3000 3D elements had to be molded, painted and animated in order to create the show. Disney animator Glen Keane returned to render Ariel in 3D. Likewise, Nik Ranieri the supervising animator of Lumiere (during Beauty and the Beast) re-rendered him. Disney tried to use the characters original voice actors as much as possible (either through re-recording or archival recordings), although some characters required new voice actors to be brought in. Perhaps most significantly, archival recordings of Clarence Nash (the original voice of Donald Duck) were used to voice Donald. According to George Scribner, the animation director of Mickey's PhilharMagic said that Donald Duck was chosen as the films main character because he showed his emotional extremes quickly.

Disney announced the creation of PhilharMagic in a press release issued on January 31, 2002. The show replaced the Legend of the Lion King in the Fantasyland Theater (the theater located next to Peter Pan's Flight. Construction began on March 1, 2002, only five days after the Legend of the Lion King Closed. On October 3, 2003 Mickey's PhilharMagic officially opened. Since it's opening, the show has not experienced any significant changes.

Attraction Plot

Mickey's PhilharMagic is a 4D show, which follows Donald Duck in his quest to recover Mickey's Sorcerer Hat.

Preshow and Queue

According to the attraction's backstory, Mickey Mouse is going to be performing with his PhilharMagic Orchestra, at the Fantasyland Concert Hall. As guests enter the concert hall, classic Disney music can be heard overhead. Painted along the right wall, are large music notes and staffs. Signs advertising Mickey's concert can also be seen. As guests continue along the queue, they can see posters for various other acts that have performed (or will be performing) at the concert hall. These posters are located on the right hand wall, and feature some sort of pun. The posters showcase:

• An Evening with Weezy, which the poster notes is "Now in in it's final squeak!". Weezy is a toy penguin who appeared in the Disney-Pixar movie Toy Story. When squeezed, Weezy would "squeak".

• Genie, who will be singing the blues. Genie is colored blue, and he appeared in the Disney movie Aladdin and it's sequels.

• Hades, who will be performing torch songs. Hades appeared in the Disney movie Hercules, as the God of the underworld.

• Wolf Gang Trio. A band made up of the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs who appeared in a 1932 Silly Symphony. The Wolf Gang Trio will be performing, "Sticks, stones and bricks in B flat".

• A poster showing the The Three Caballeros, which reads, "Festiva! Mariachis." and "Nina Fiesta Festiva". Translated to English this means "Festive! Mariachi!" and "Not Festive Festival". The Three Caballeros consist of Donald Duck, José Carioca, and Panchito Pistoles. The three appeared in the 1944 Disney movie, appropriately title, "The Three Caballeros".

• I Pagliaccci performed by Willy the Whale. Willy the Whale was the star of the Disney short, "The Whale Who Wanted To Sing At the Met". The short was about an opera singing whale and it appeared in the 1946 Disney film, "Make Mine Music".

After moving through the queue and seeing the posters, guests pick up their "opera glasses" (which are really 3D glasses) and head into the waiting room. Here Minnie tells guests when the show is about to start, and the theater doors open "magically". Upon entering the theater, Goofy can be heard telling guests to be seated and to move to the end of the rows. As he walks unseen around the room, sound gags can be heard. These include Goofy tripping and falling, stepping on a cat, and getting electrocuted. Just as the is about to start, Minnie (offstage) tells Mickey that Donald and the orchestra are missing and it's showtime! Goofy, who apparently only hears that it's showtime, opens the curtain, despite Mickey yelling that they are not yet ready.

Main Show

As the theater curtains rise, a conductors podium and Donald Duck appear on screen. Donald is sleeping in a box, as Mickey rushes on screen. He leaves his Sorcerer Hat on the podium and then tells Donald that "It's show time...don't forget the orchestra, and don't touch my hat!". Donald wakes up in a panic, and scrambles to the orchestra in order. The orchestra consists of magical musical instruments, which come to life when Donald puts on Mickey's Sorcerer hat. Although the interments initially appear to respect Donald's conducting, they quickly get out of hand. Donald is able to momentarily get them back in order, put one flute refuses to listen, and it begins playing the Mickey Mouse Club Theme. Donald, enraged by the flute throws it, and then tries to stop on it. At this point the rest of the instruments revolt. As they plat the Mickey Mouse Club Theme, they attack and drag Donald down into a magical vortex. During this struggle he looses the Sorcerer's Hat, and the entire theater goes dark.

As Donald comes to in complete darkness, he asks what happened to his hat. Lumiere (from the Beauty and the Beast), then lights his candle and tells Donald:

"Bonjour, it is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure, that we welcome you tonight. And now, the dining room proudly presents...Your's dinner!"

Lumiere then begins to sing Be Our Guest, his signature song from the movie. Donald sits a table, as dishes of food parade around. One of these dishes has Mickey's hat sitting on it, although Donald cannot grab it. Guests can also smell the food at it appears on screen. As dishes dance in 3D, Lumiere continues singing. For the grand finally, he stands atop a pile of food as champagne bottles pop. Their popping, shoots guests with a burst of air, as the Sorcerer's Hat can one again be on screen. After the bottles pop, the pile of food and dishes (with Lumiere on top) fall of the table creating a big mess.

The scene then becomes dark and shifts. Donald now finds himself shrunken and in the world of the Sorcerer's Apprentice. As music from Fantasia plays, the Magic Brooms from the movie come in, and begin to splash water everywhere. Just as Donald is about to grab the Sorcerer's Hat, a series of Brooms splash him with water. When Donald gets splashed, so does the audience. After being hit by the water, a little Magic Broom comes through. Donald then takes away the broom's bucket and laughs triumphantly. His victory is short lived however, because hearing the little broom cry, a giant broom comes in and throws his bucket of water (once again hitting the guests), transporting Donald to another movie.

After being hit by the bucket of water, Donald finds himself under the sea with Ariel from the Disney movie, The Little Mermaid. Ariel picks up the Sorcerer's Hat and begins to sing Part of Your World. As Donald tries to get his hat back, he is distracted by her singing. While she is singing, Ariel shows the audience her treasure, which then seems floating right in front of the guests. After briefly dancing with Ariel, Donald begins to chase after her as she swims towards the shore. He then mistakenly kisses and electric eel, who then begins to chase him as he heads up towards the land. The camera then focuses on the sun, and the scene shifts once again.

The scene changes, and show Simba and Zazu singing I Just Can't Wait To Be King in the Disney movie, The Lion King. As a pack of giraffes dance along, one of them can be seen wearing the Sorcerer's Hat. As Donald climbs on top of them, trying to get to his hat, Simba tells them to "look left". When they do this Donald is sent flying off screen. He is then batted by another group of animals who Simba tells to "look right". As the scene continues, Donald appears in a spotlight, before Zazu turns it off. He is then trapped as the African animals continue their song and dance. As the song ends, Simba, Donald and the animals fall into a cloud of magic smoke.

Tinkerbell is then shown on screen, and she waves guests over to Big Ben. Here Peter Pan can be seen, as Donald and the hat come falling onto the clock. His fall propels both Peter Pan and himself into the sky. Peter then begins to sing You Can Fly, as he sprinkles pixie dust on to Donald. As Donald, Peter and Tinkerbell fly off into the night, the camera rises into the clouds, once again changing the scene.

Above the clouds, Aladdin and Jasmine from the Disney movie Aladdin are shown flying on a magic carpet. As the two sing A Whole New World, the Sorcerer's Hat falls onto their carpet. Donald, also on a magic carpet begins to chase them around Agrabah. At one point, the smell of Jasmine (the flower) fills the air. As Aladdin and Jasmine finish the song, Donald finally catches up. Just after Jasmine places the hat on Donald's head, Iago (also from Aladdin) flies by and knocks it off. Donald then jumps off his carpet, trying to catch the hat, and he once again falls into a magical vortex created by the instruments. Mickey's shadow can be seen trying to grab his hat inside the vortex. He eventually succeeds, bringing order back to the instruments. He then concludes the Mickey Mouse Club Theme, while Donald is stuck inside a tuba. At the conclusion of the song, Donald is launched out of the tuba, and sent crashing into the rear wall of the theater. Guests can turn around and his backside, as he struggles to get out of the wall. Eventually he frees himself, but in doing so he falls forward and out of guest's sight. Goofy then dismisses the audience, saying that he hoped they liked the show, and reminding them to return their opera glasses.

Cast