I am doing today a tribute to The Mickey Mouse Revue. As you know, Mickey's Philarmagic will open in 2011 at Tokyo Disneyland, and it will open in the theatre where the Mickey Mouse Revue previously was. UPDATE: The Mickey Mouse Revue is still open at TDL until May 25, 2009! So, if you go at TDL before, don't miss it, it's your last chance to see it!
For me, the Mickey Mouse Revue is probably the most underestimated WDI Audio-Animatronic attraction. When was the last time you saw somebody regretting the Mickey Mouse Revue? Or simply talked about it? Never! Nobody speaks about it! And frankly it's a pity, as it was a totally charming attraction. One of the last attraction from the end of the 60's WED Enterprises era. Sure we still have POTC, HM, Jungle Cruise and others, but The Mickey Mouse Revue was the one and only attraction dedicated to Disney Animation characters - the one from the very first Disney classics. Now that it's gone, it's a whole era which is leaving with it. 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 it was "charmingly old" (i know, the word "charmingly" don't exist in english!).
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, 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 resembles 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!
And now, thanks to ParkHopper here is the video of the Tokyo Disneyland version in good filming quality. The Mickey Mouse Revue had a pre-show and you can see the video 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
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