In this Music Behind the Ride, I wanted to look at a current music-based attraction located in almost all the Disney parks - Mickey's PhilharMagic.
Here's the rundown of the show - Mickey Mouse is advertised in concert with his PhilharMagic Orchestra. The lobby is lined with past concert posters, with background music playing classical selections from Fantasia and instrumental Disney songs. You also pick up your 3D "opera glasses" before entering the theater.
We hear Goofy doing some finishing touches as the stage manager and then Minnie gives us the pre-show spiel. They hurriedly begin the show before realizing Donald and the orchestra are missing. Mickey comes onstage to a sleeping Donald, telling him to get the orchestra ready and "don't touch my hat".
Donald pulls all the instruments out of a crate before stepping on the podium with baton in hand. As he sneakily puts on the sorcerer's hat, the instruments come to life and begin to tune and play snippets of songs. He calls them to attention and they play in cacophony - one piccolo bounces around performing the "Mickey Mouse Club March" which he then throws into the audience and boomerangs back to him. Getting angry, he tries to stomp on the piccolo which brings all the instruments above him and swirl around him in a cloud of smoke. We hear a minor version of the march as Donald and instruments go flying around into a vortex.
After a moment of darkness, we see the familiar flame of Lumiere as he sings the first verse of "Be Our Guest". Donald is sitting at the table and sees the sorcerer's hat bounce by on a dish. We also get a few smells piped into the auditorium as food is shown. The song continues into the finale with popping champagne bottles represented with air bursts in the theater. Donald crashes into a pile of dishes.
A door opens as the brooms from Fantasia enter carrying their buckets, and naturally we hear "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". They splash Donald with their water buckets and one gigantic broom takes his revenge with a splash sending him to the next sequence.
We're now underwater in Ariel's grotto. The hat floats by Flounder as Ariel begins an abbreviated "Part of Your World" - now singing it to Donald in scuba gear. As the song ends, he is ready to kiss Ariel, but gets zapped by an electric eel. The opening of her grotto transitions into the bright sun of the next sequence.
We jump into Simba and Zazu singing "I Just Can't Wait to Be King". Donald continues to catch the hat on and among stylized 2D animals. We transition into the Land of the Dead and see Miguel singing "Un Poco Loco" with Héctor. We see Donald chase alebrije Dante before take taking off into the sky with Pepita.
Over the sky we see Tinker Bell flying over Big Ben, with Peter Pan landing on the clock with the sorcerer's hat. Sprinkled with pixie dust, Donald flies over London to a snippet of "You Can Fly". We then see the Flying Carpet with Prince Ali and Jasmine singing "A Whole New World". Donald chases after them on second carpet, running into Agrabah stalls. As he pulls next to the couple, Jasmine places the sorcerer's hat on Donald, right before Iago knocks it off.
Donald is sent back into the instrument vortex and Mickey takes control, landing all the instruments back in place. Together they finish the "Mickey Mouse Club March" as Donald is launched from a tuba past the screen. In the theater's back wall, we see an animatronic rear end of Donald stuck in the wall and falling into the rubble.
The attraction opened first in 2003 at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, in the same theater originally used for the music themed Mickey Mouse Revue. Hong Kong Disneyland's version opened with the park in 2005. The show opened in 2011 at Tokyo Disneyland (sung in Japanese), replacing the 26 year run of the Mickey Mouse Revue. It arrived at Disneyland Paris in 2018 in their 3D/4D Discoveryland Theatre. It then arrived in Disney California Adventure in 2019, appearing in Hollywood Land.
While featuring original soundtracks, the show mainly reused Clarence Nash's archival audio for Donald Duck. Starting 2021, the Coco sequence was added to California Adventure, Paris, Tokyo and Magic Kingdom. Being a musical revue, there was never an official album release until 2011 Tokyo Disneyland's album. It features the opening, Japanese songs and exit music.
The show brings a creative spark to Mickey and Donald, while reimagining scenes from Beauty and the Beast, Fantasia, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Coco, Peter Pan and Aladdin. It's a delightful show for all ages, especially those that love Disney music.
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