Magic Behind the Music: Magic Kingdom – Fantasyland – Mickey’s Philharmagic
Our tour of the D-COT Jukebox brings us to this track added on June 29, 2008 which treats us to the sounds and music from an attraction at the Magic Kingdom that leads viewers to think it may have been misnamed. Like the chorus of the Mickey Mouse Club March, this attraction starts and ends with Mickey Mouse, but the middle features our favorite water fowl: Donald Duck! D-COT members have listened to Donald steal Mickey’s magic (albeit temporarily) in this show over 39,000 times! This makes it number 24 on the Top 25 Played Overall playlist.
Mickey, planning to don his sorcerer hat and pick up a baton, is getting ready to take an audience through a magical concert series when an overconfident duck comes across the stage – you know the one. He puts on the hat, waves the baton, throws a tantrum against an enchanted flute and the rest of the enchanted orchestra fights back, transporting Donald through several memorable songs and scenes from Disney animated classics. The show itself is visually 3-D with water, wind, and smell effects. Mickey’s Philharmagic is the fourth show to run in its location at the Magic Kingdom. It was preceded by the Mickey Mouse Revue, Magic Journeys (previously of Epcot fame), and Legend of the Lion King. It opened officially on October 8, 2003 and continues to run, making it the longest-running show in that location by far.
Walt Disney Imagineering partnered with Walt Disney Animation to develop the show. Some of the original animators of feature animation characters returned to re-animate the same characters in 3-D for the show, like Ariel and Lumiere for instance. Even the voice of Donald Duck is largely pulled from archives of his original voice, Clarence Nash. Mickey’s Philharmagic has become a staple 3-D show for Walt Disney World guests even after more advanced shows have been developed. D-COT Supporters have the Jukebox track on 24 custom playlists and 517 members have added it to their favorites. It gets a 4.8/5 average rating from 129 votes. So take a listen and find out who’s the leader of the band that plays for you and me! Hint: as much as he would prefer to think differently, it’s not really Donald Duck.
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Acamm
Awesome Article! I LOVE this attraction!
Nascfan
This is one of our favorites to visit at the Magic Kingdom! Thanks for a great article!
jman410_89
It’s one my favorite shows at Fantasyland, unfortunately they didn’t sell the Soundtrack CD except at Tokyo Disneyland.
disneybug
I love all the trivia in the article! Thanks for sharing!
starbee
I remember and miss Legend of the Lion King. But Mickey’s PhilharMagic is good. I need to see it again, its been awhile