Mickey's PhilharMagic is a 12-minute long show featuring 3D effects, scents, and water as well as starring Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and a number of other Disney animated characters. It is shown on the largest purpose-built 3D screen ever built, at 150 feet wide.
It is located adjacent to Royal Banquet Hall in Fantasyland. This is the only incarnation of PhilharMagic to open with a park.
Tokyo Disneyland[]
It is located adjacent to Pinocchio's Daring Journey in the space that was previously occupied by the Mickey Mouse Revue, which was originally located at Walt Disney World before moving to Tokyo Disneyland as one of its original attractions.
Disneyland Paris[]
It is located adjacent to Star Tours: The Adventures Continue in Discoveryland Theatre, the first version that was not placed at the park's Fantasyland, and the only version to not feature the animatronic of Donald's rear end.
Plans had existed for the attraction to come to the park during the 2007-2012 overhaul as a Muppet*Vision replacement, but it was shelved because of the limited size of the theater's screen. When it was finally installed in 2019, the issue was resolved by projecting some of the extended screen elements onto the walls of the theater.
Attraction development[]
The attraction is unique in being one of the very few attractions in the Disney theme parks in which Walt Disney Imagineering has collaborated with another division of The Walt Disney Company - in this instance, it was Walt Disney Animation Studios. This same partnership also developed the Fantasmic! shows. Early in development, Tinker Bell was set to be the star of the attraction, with Donald Duck taking the role instead as Michael Eisner thought Tink was "too sweet" and Donald would create more comedic conflict.
Legendary Disney animator Glen Keane re-rendered Ariel from The Little Mermaid in CGI, returning after rendering her traditionally in the original film. Nik Ranieri, supervising animator of Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, also returned to re-animate that character in the same way.
Most of Donald Duck's dialogue is actually archival recordings by his original voice actor, Clarence Nash. Tony Anselmo (Donald's current voice actor) recorded only five new lines for the character in this attraction (such as when Donald says "Where's my hat?" and hums to the tune of the song "Be Our Guest".) and a few more for the Coco segment.
On July 1, 2021, it was announced a new scene would be added to the film featuring "Un Poco Loco" from Disney-Pixar's Coco, marking the very first time that animators from both studios will have their characters together on screen. The new segment will be added to Disney California Adventure and Disneyland Paris on July 17, 2021, before being added to Magic Kingdom on November 12, 2021, to coincide with Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary celebration; one month after closing temporarily for refurbishment on October 11, 2021.[2] Updated signage for the Magic Kingdom version would add the tagline "The Kingdom's Most Magical Musical Revue" as a nod to its ancestor attraction, the Mickey Mouse Revue.
Plot synopsis[]
Outside the Queue Area[]
Mickey Mouse is performing with his PhilharMagic Orchestra at the Fantasyland Concert Hall (Orlando, Hong Kong, and Tokyo), Discoveryland Theater (Paris), and Sunset Showcase Theater (Anaheim).
Upon entering the theater's lobby, guests pick up their "opera glasses" (3-D glasses). During their wait, guests hear orchestral music from Fantasia, Fantasia 2000, and other Disney animated films.
Fantasyland Concert Hall (Orlando, Hong Kong, and Tokyo)/Discoveryland Theater (Paris)/Sunset Showcase Theater (Anaheim)[]
Goofy, the Concert Hall's stage manager, admits the guests into the main theater, where final preparations for the performance are underway. After accidentally disturbing a cat, Goofy plugs in an electrical cord and gets electrocuted. Minnie Mouse then tells the guests to put on their "opera glasses" after reminding them that, as a courtesy to the attraction, there should not be eating, drinking, smoking or flash photography during the show. After this instruction, Minnie then realizes that Donald Duck has gone missing and goes to tell Mickey. Goofy, through a misunderstanding, then raises the curtain to reveal that the stage is empty, except for a conductor's podium and Donald, who is sleeping in a box. Mickey races onto the stage in a hurry, quickly telling Donald to unpack the instruments. Mickey places his famous Sorcerer's Hat on the podium, then dashes off the stage, ordering Donald "And don't touch my hat!"
After Donald wakes up, he unpacks all the instruments, including a grand piano, from the small box. He is then tempted to try on the Sorcerer's hat himself. He does so, disobeying Mickey's order, which causes the magical instruments to come to life and play an extremely unpleasant melody. Donald tells the instruments to "stop it" and the instruments comply, except for a small flute that messes with him and the other instruments laugh at this antic. However, when Donald bullies the flute, the other instruments, immediately shocked and angered, begin to rise up and attack Donald, creating a whirlwind of magic and music as the "Mickey Mouse March" plays. Donald loses the hat in the storm and passes through scenes from different Disney animated features while trying to retrieve the hat.
After the whirlwind passes, Donald finds himself in a dark place, which brings us into the dining room in the Beast's Castle from Beauty and the Beast with Lumiere, singing "Be Our Guest". Guests can smell the food, triggering hidden smell cannons in the theater. and in the finale when the bottles of champagne pop their corks, they feel a quick blast of wind in their faces surrounded by cakes, which triggers hidden air cannons in the back of the seats. The dark comes back for a second. When the light returns, we find ourselves in Fantasia. The music from The Sorcerer's Apprentice plays as the Magic Brooms enter the room, splashing water on Donald and washing away the dirty dishes left behind from the previous scene. The audience also gets blasted with water. A broom smaller than Donald comes in, carrying a big bucket. Donald snatches the bucket away and laughs, but only gives it back when a gigantic broom comes in. The giant broom spills water on Donald, taking us underwater into The Little Mermaid, where Ariel is with Flounder in her grotto singing "Part of Your World". At the end of the song, an electric eel shocks Donald when he tries to kiss Ariel. Next, we fade to The Lion King, where Simba sings "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" amidst a menagerie of African Plains animals rendered in a 3D paper cut-out style. After that, we go into The Land of the Dead in Coco, where Miguel and Hector sing "Un Poco Loco" while Donald tries to get the hat from Dante while riding Pepita, and runs onstage, joining in the mariachi dancing. Then, we find ourselves within a starry London night sky in Peter Pan, where the chorus sings "You Can Fly". Peter Pan and Tinker Bell sprinkle pixie dust on Donald and the hat, giving them both the ability to fly. Finally, we go into Agrabah in Aladdin, where Aladdin and Jasmine are singing "A Whole New World" while flying through the night sky on Carpet. This time, Donald retrieves the hat by Jasmine placing it on his head. Unfortunately, the hat gets knocked off of Donald's head by Iago and Donald jumps after it.
Donald falls back into the magical whirlwind from earlier. Donald gets sucked inside, finding himself back onstage, still in the whirlwind. Mickey returns, puts on the hat, and uses its powers to restore order. As Mickey finally conducts the orchestra, playing a reprise of the "Mickey Mouse March", the flute that Donald bullied earlier knocks the duck into a tuba. As a fitting end, the tuba launches Donald across the theater. Mickey takes a bow and signs off as the curtains close with the audience applauding. The show comes to a close as Goofy thanks the audience for attending the show, bidding them farewell. He then provides instructions on how to exit the attraction. The audience leaves and deposits their 3D glasses in the special bins. The animatronic of Donald's rear is not shown in the Paris version. Instead, extended applause is heard and Minnie thanks the guests for coming to the show.
Most of the original voice cast reprised their original character roles in each of their own respective Disney films, excluding Peter Pan (who had a different voice due to Bobby Driscoll's passing years earlier), Donald Duck, and Simba (with archival recordings). According to Disney staff members at Walt Disney World, an estimate of about 80 talented musicians and/or background singers performed the music for the film as well as the return of famed composer Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin) and lyricist Tim Rice (Aladdin, The Lion King), who arranged the music for each song they had worked on since some verses or lines of these songs were omitted for this attraction.
