Attractions In Detail- Mickey’s PhilharMagic

This begins a brand new feature I am starting on TFG that takes a in depth look at the fantastic rides that not only appear in Disney World but across the other theme parks in the Orlando area too.

During these pieces not only will I provide information on the ride but will go into a detailed history and offer my own opinion on how long the rides will realistically carry on for before being replaced by something else.

I will also try put these posts live on Wednesday’s to help with consistency although they may not appear every week!

Why Mickey’s PhilharMagic First?

The only reason I have chosen this ride first is simply because I was just listening music on shuffle and Be Our Guest came on and the song instantly reminds me of this fantastic attraction, I can almost smell the delicious foods too!

Plot

Mickey Mouse is performing with his PhilharMagic orchestra within the Fantasyland concert hall but it all goes wrong when Donald starts to unpack the instruments and puts on Mickey’s Sorcerer’s hat (he was told not too by Mickey). He then tries to control the instruments and after ending up fighting a flute the instruments all gang up on him. This creates a magical mess that ends with Donald flying through films trying to get the hat back including Lion King, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.

Of course Mickey puts a stop to it in the end!

Attraction History

Mickey’s PhilharMagic opened on October 8th 2003 and consists of a 12 minute 4-D film that contains 3D effects, scents including cakes and water spurting out at guests. It also contains one of the largest collections of Disney characters on screen ever and is shown on the largest purpose build 3D screen ever made.

The attraction itself if rather unique in that it is one of the only ones that Disney Imagineering collaborated with another Disney department in order to create the attraction. They partnered up with feature animation in order to make sure that everything was as perfect as it could be (they also did this for the Fantasmic show). One of the key animators for Disney, Glen Keane, completely re-rendered Ariel for the 3D effect and Nik Ranieri did the same for Lumiere in the Beauty and the Beast segment of the show. Disney also used all original actors for the voice casting of the show using archival recordings of Clarence Nash to provide much of Donald’s voice work whilst only using the current actor for a couple of lines.

Will The End Of The Ride Be Anytime Soon?

So with rides coming and going all of the time how long is the lifeline to this ride going to be?

Well in all honesty I can see this attraction going on for a long while yet, Disney rarely see complaints of this ride aging and the technology still seems new considering the ride will hit its 10th year in 2013!
What are your thoughts on this great attraction?