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Complete Guide to Mickey’s PhilharMagic at Magic Kingdom

Complete Guide to Mickey’s PhilharMagic at Magic Kingdom

Don your 3D “opera glasses” and take a seat in the Fantasyland Concert Hall in front of the largest seamless wraparound screen in the world for Mickey’s PhilharMagic!

You will experience some of Disney Animation’s biggest hits in an entirely new way while enjoying 3D effects, a light show, and you may even get (slightly) wet! Surprises abound with this musical feast for almost all of the senses.

Warm up your instruments and keep reading for our complete guide to Mickey’s PhilharMagic.

Before we get too far into it, make sure you check out our guide on the Best Rides at Magic Kingdom for information on every attraction and show at Magic Kingdom.

PhilharMagic Quick Facts

  • Location: Magic Kingdom, in Fantasyland
  • Height requirement: None
  • Suitable for: Anybody
  • Attraction length: 12 minutes
  • Do we recommend? Yes
  • When to Visit: Anytime standby, anytime with Genie+
  • Lightning Lane available: Yes, included with Genie+
  • Eligible for Early Entry: Yes
  • Eligible for Extended Evening Hours: Yes
  • Scheduled Refurbishments
  • Tip(s): Great to visit in the afternoon to get out of the heat.

Description: A 3D movie featuring the music from various Disney movies. Anybody at any age will enjoy this 12-minute show, but if the 3D effects get to be too much for little ones, removing the 3D glasses usually helps.

Location

Mickey’s PhilharMagic is located in Fantasyland, across from Prince Charming Regal Carrousel and next to the Fantasy Faire gift shop.

mickey's philharmagic location at magic kingdom

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Magic Kingdom Map
Magic Kingdom Map

How to Watch Mickey’s PhilharMagic

Mickey’s PhilharMagic has a Standby Line and a Lightning Lane. There is no Single Rider Line.

Eligible guests can also enjoy the attraction during Early Theme Park Entry and Extended Evening Theme Park Hours.

Do I need to use Genie+ at Mickey’s PhilharMagic?

Genie+ is available at Mickey’s PhilharMagic, but this wouldn’t necessarily be a priority when you are making your Genie+ arrangements as availability usually lasts most of the day and the wait is never typically that long.

lightning lane at mickey's philharmagic

There is also plenty of seating available in the theater, meaning many guests can be moved in and out daily allowing for a shorter wait time.

Rider Switch/Child Swap

Mickey’s PhilharMagic does not offer Rider Switch since this show is appropriate for all ages. Plus, Rider Switch isn’t normally offered for shows and reserved for rides.

Rider Switch is Disney’s system that allows guests with small children to take turns riding bigger rides, while another person/people wait with the little one.

You can learn more about Rider Switch via our handy guide.

What to Expect When You Watch

Queue

While some of the queue is outside, it’s covered and provides shade. That said, you rarely have to wait outside. Mickey’s PhilharMagic has an adorably themed queue that’s inside with air conditioning.

mickey's philharmagic magic kingdom

Guests wanting to watch Mickey’s PhilharMagic wait in the Fantasyland Concert Hall lobby where they wind their way past posters advertising cheekily-named past productions and performers, such as “Genie Sings the Blues,” “Ariel’s Coral Group – A Must Sea,” and “Hades sings Torch Songs.”

mickey's philharmagic magic kingdom

Classic Disney music can be heard overhead, and painted on the walls are large musical notes and staffs. Here, guests pick up their “opera glasses” (3D glasses) before the doors to the theater open.

When showtime arrives, you’ll proceed into the theater where you will take a seat before a beautiful gold proscenium stage decorated with musical instruments.

Accessibility Information

Since you are seated in a theater for this experience, those in wheelchairs and ECVs may remain in them. Guests using wheelchairs and ECVs will be seated in a special area in the theater. 

Mickey's PhilharMagic

Handheld captioning and assistive listening is available for guests.

In the Show

If you prefer to experience Mickey’s PhilharMagic without any spoilers, you may want to skip this part.

Mickey Mouse is going to be performing with his PhilharMagic Orchestra at the Fantasyland Concert Hall and you have seats to the show! This 12-minute extravaganza starts with Goofy, the stage manager, who ends up accidentally zapping himself before Minnie Mouse tells the guests to put on their “opera glasses.”

Mickey's Philharmagic

She then realizes that Donald Duck has gone missing. Despite protests from Mickey, Goofy raises the curtain to reveal an almost empty stage. There is only the conductor’s podium and Donald, sleeping.

Mickey races onto the stage and orders Donald to unpack the instruments, then Mickey dashes off, leaving behind his famous Sorcerer’s hat.

Donald unpacks all the instruments from the small box and sets up the stage. But when he’s completed his task, he dons the Sorcerer’s hat.

mickey's philharmagic magic kingdom

Suddenly the magical instruments come to life, playing an extremely unpleasant melody. Donald commands the instruments to stop and all but a small flute whistling the “Mickey Mouse March” listen.

Donald bullies the flute but the other instruments gang up against him, creating a whirlwind of magic and music. Donald loses the hat in the chaos as everything is sucked up into the world of Disney Animation.

Donald finds himself in the dining room of the Beast’s Castle in Beauty and the Beast with Lumière, singing “Be Our Guest”. For this scene, hidden smell cannons are triggered in the theater so that guests can actually smell the food. When the champagne bottles pop, they feel a quick blast of wind in their faces.

Mickey's PhilharMagic

As the song wraps, Donald is transported to Fantasia. The music from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice plays as the Magic Brooms enter, splashing water on Donald. This triggers water sprayers in the theater that lightly mist the audience.

A small broom enters, carrying a big bucket. Donald snatches the bucket away, making fun of the little broom but gives it back when a gigantic broom enters.

The giant broom spills water on Donald, transporting him to the underwater grotto in The Little Mermaid, where Ariel and Flounder sing “Part of Your World”. At the end of the song, as Donald tries to steal a kiss from Ariel, an electric eel shocks him.

Africa is the next destination as Simba, Zazu, and other animals from The Lion King sing, “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King.”

Mickey's PhilharMagic

As the dust settles from the desert, we enter the colorful Land of the Dead in Coco. Miguel is singing “Un Poco Loco” alongside Héctor. Donald joins in the merriment, but Pepita steals the hat from him and as he holds onto her tail they take off into the clouds.

Donald flies into a starry London night sky, where the chorus sings “You Can Fly” from Peter Pan. Peter and Tinker Bell sprinkle pixie dust on Donald, giving him the ability to fly on his own.

Donald finds himself in Agrabah where Aladdin and Jasmine sing “A Whole New World” while flying through the night sky on Carpet. Donald follows them on a magic carpet of his own and retrieves the sorcerer’s hat. But his success is short-lived when it gets knocked off of his head by Iago.

Mickey's PhilharMagic

As Donald makes a leap for the hat, he descends back into the magical whirlwind vortex, exiting the Disney animated feature world, and finding himself back on stage.

Mickey returns, dons the hat, and uses its powers to restore order.

As Mickey finally conducts the orchestra, playing the “Mickey Mouse March”, the flute that Donald bullied earlier knocks Donald into a tuba.

The tuba launches Donald across the theater and into a wall (be sure to look behind you in the theater when this happens). Donald’s rear, now in animatronic form, is stuck in the wall before it eventually falls through the hole. Mickey takes a bow as the curtains close.

Minnie thanks everyone for coming to the show as they are ushered out of the theater.

Is Mickey’s PhilharMagic Kid-Friendly?

The show is very family-friendly. You can bring the whole gang along to enjoy this musically-enhanced 3D attraction. However, if the 3D effects get to be too much for little ones, removing the 3D glasses usually helps.

Strollers

Strollers are not allowed in most queues at Disney World, including for Mickey’s PhilharMagic. They can be left at the designated stroller parking area near the attraction.

History

The creation of Mickey’s PhilharMagic began in the early 2000s when Walt Disney Imagineering and the Walt Disney Animation Studios teamed up to create a new attraction.

It is one of just a few Disney theme park attractions where Walt Disney Imagineering has collaborated with another division of The Walt Disney Company. This particular partnership also developed the Fantasmic! shows at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

The Legend of the Lion King

On January 31, 2002, Disney announced Mickey’s PhilharMagic would replace the Legend of the Lion King in the Fantasyland Theater. That attraction closed on February 23, 2002.

Construction on the new attraction began in March 2002 and on October 3, 2003, Mickey’s PhilharMagic officially opened.

Mickey's PhilharMagic

Walt Disney Imagineering created the attraction’s storyline and chose the featured characters to represent a mixture of classic Disney animation and films from the late 1980s and early 1990s, a time known as the Disney Renaissance.

They then turned the project over to Walt Disney Feature Animation who worked for almost three years before the film for Mickey’s PhilharMagic was complete. This was largely due to the fact that 3000 3D elements had to be molded, painted, animated, and rendered in 3D in order to create the show.

old color scheme for mickey's philharmagic

With the partnership between the two companies, some of Disney’s top talent had the opportunity to work together. Disney veteran Alex Mann, who worked on Oliver & Co. (1988), A Goofy Movie (1995), and Treasure Planet (2002), was instrumental in developing and scripting the final story.

Glen Keane, who had animated Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989), returned to re-animate Ariel in 3D. Nik Ranieri, supervising animator of Lumière in Beauty and the Beast (1991), also returned to animate that character in 3D.

coco scene in mickey's philharmagic

Most of Donald Duck’s dialogue is actually archival recordings by his original voice actor, Clarence Nash. However, they did bring in Tony Anselmo, Donald’s current voice actor, to record a few new lines for the character in this attraction. His voice can be heard in the scene where Donald hums “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast and the Coco segment.

On July 1, 2021, it was announced a new scene would be added to the film. On October 11, 2021, Mickey’s Philharmagic closed for refurbishment. When the attraction reopened on November 12, 2021, the new segment featured “Un Poco Loco” from Pixar’s Coco (2017).

Other Fun Details

  • This is the fourth attraction to utilize the Fantasyland Theater. The venue originally hosted the Mickey Mouse Revue, one of the three opening day attractions in Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland in 1971. After that closed in 1980, it became home to the 3D film, Magic Journey, which ran until 1993. Most recently, it was home to the Legend of The Lion King from 1994 until 2002.
Mickey's PhilharMagic
  • Mickey’s PhilharMagic features the largest seamless projection screen in the world at 150 feet long and 28 feet high!
  • The show features the largest cast of classic Disney animated stars who have ever performed together in a single 3D show. It is also the first time that Mickey Mouse has ever appeared in 3D, as well as many other classic Disney characters.
  • At the time the film was made, the land of Agrabah from Aladdin was the largest 3D environment ever created.
  • To perform music for the film, 80 musicians and background singers were brought in including famed composer Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin) and lyricist Tim Rice (The Lion King and Aladdin).
  • Mickey’s PhilharMagic was directed by George Scribner who is probably best known by Disney fans for directing the 1988 movie Oliver and Company.
  • Versions of Mickey’s PhilharMagic are also located at Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Disney California Adventure.
Mickey's PhilharMagic
  • Audio of guests entering and exiting the attraction is piped into Mickey’s PhilharMagic at the beginning and end of each show.
  • A brand new interactive lighting system developed for Tokyo DisneySea made its American debut in Mickey’s PhilharMagic. The lights are synchronized with the film through computerization. Smoke effects enable guests to see the lights, casting shadow elements as part of the performance.
  • From 2002 until 2012 Mickey’s Philharmagic was sponsored by Kodak.

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