Let's remember the great Mickey Mouse Revue. As you probably know, Mickey's Philarmagic began at WDW MAgic Kingdom and was then transferred at Tokyo Disneyland until May 25, 2009.
For me, the Mickey Mouse Revue is probably the most underestimated WDI Audio-Animatronic attraction. When was the last time you saw somebody missing the Mickey Mouse Revue? Or simply talked about it? Never! Nobody speaks about the Mickey Mouse review! And frankly it's a pity, as it was a totally charming attraction. Sure POTC AAs are way much better, there is no doubt about that, but the Mickey Mouse Review was one of the last attraction from the 1960's WED Enterprises era.
Sure we still have POTC, the Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise and others, but the Mickey Mouse Revue was a great audio-animatronics attraction dedicated to Disney Animation characters - the one of the very first Disney classics. Now that it's gone, it's a whole era which has left with it, but as i always say "everything is disappearing, it's alas of life".
I had the luck to see it both at WDW in 1972 and at TDL, and it's true that the attraction was getting old, but still it was charming. So, for those who never saw this lovely attraction - after all it left WDW for TDL 29 years ago and some of you were probably not even born yet, here is more about it, and, yes, you'll find also videos below of both the original WDW and the TDL versions!
The first time the Mickey Mouse Revue was more or less mentioned was in a 1962 interview when Walt Disney talked about his new audio-animatronic technology in The Enchanted Tiki Room and untitled haunted house attraction. He said that he had similar plans for "all the Disney characters". In October 1, 1971, the Mickey Mouse Revue show opened as an "E" ticket attraction in Fantasyland, in WDW's Magic Kingdom where the show ran until it was closed on September 14, 1980. The building that housed it was renamed the Fantasyland Theater and the Mickey Mouse Revue found a new home at Tokyo Disneyland since then.
The show looked like a a concert orchestra with Mickey Mouse as the conductor, and various Disney cartoon characters playing musical instruments, including Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey, Louie, Baloo, Kaa, King Louie, Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, Dumbo, Timothy Mouse, Gus-Gus, Jaq, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Dormouse, Abner the Country Mouse and Monty the City Mouse, all Audio-Animatronics. Parts of famous songs from Disney films are performed by Snow White, the Three Little Pigs, the Fairy Godmother, Alice from Alice in Wonderland, and the Three Caballeros. 73 characters are represented. Songs include "Heigh Ho," "Whistle While You Work," "When You Wish Upon A Star," "Hi Diddle Dee Dee," "Who's Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf," "I'm Wishing," "The Silly Song," "All In The Golden Afternoon," "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," "So This Is Love," "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah," and "Mickey Mouse Club Alma Mater." Among Disney Imagineers who contribute to the attraction were John Hench, Bill Justice, and Wathel Rogers.
And now, on with the show, the original 1971 WDW show, and hope you will enjoy it as much as i did!
Thanks to ParkHopper here is the video of the Tokyo Disneyland version in good quality. The Mickey Mouse Revue also had a pre-show and if you wish you can see the video of it HERE.
Many Thanks to LoreneFaith for the Youtube video of the 1971 WDW version and to Park Hopper for the video of the TDL version!
Picture and Artwork: copyright Disney
