Welcome to those of you joining me from A Glass Slipper Vacation and those of you just hopping aboard.
I am the Final stop on our Magical Blogorail.
It’s a bit of an anomaly, really. There is no more iconic character in the Disney parks or company. In silhouette, in image, in character, Mickey Mouse is everywhere. Children recognize him, adults queue to have their pictures taken with him; he is, without question, the icon of all things Disney. And yet, unlike most of the characters gathered around him in the Disney parks, Mickey doesn’t have a well known movie story; there is no merchandise from his latest film to attract sales. Mickey is neither a modern film character or a cartoon hero of a recent series.
So why is he the icon of all things Disney?
Part of that story lies in the fact that Mickey has always been the avatar, the spiritual representative of Walter Elias Disney, one of America’s “Great Men,” the inspiration behind the Disney ideal. In 1928 when Walt lost his signature character (Oswald), most of the employees he had viewed as friends, and his hopes for future profit, he was forced to create a new character for his cartoons. The story goes that he originally planned to call his silly, simple cartoon rodent Mortimer and his wife, Lilly, dissuaded him, offering Mickey as an alternative name. Regardless, Mickey became Walt’s main cartoon hero, charming and amusing audiences in a series of cartoons, and revolutionizing the animation world with the first combination of sound and animation in Steamboat Willie.
Two of a kind
Over the years, Mickey changed, paralleling his creator. In his article on the early Mickey, Disney historian Jim Korkis points out that “Walt Disney was a hardworking country boy with a love for rural humor. The early Mickey, being a reflection of his creator, was just as much a good-natured hayseed as Walt and had the same inclination toward barnyard jokes. More importantly, Mickey also shared the same drive and curiosity that had made Walt so successful. (Later, as Walt tried to fit in with the sophisticated Hollywood crowd, he brought Mickey along with him, eventually transforming the scrappy rodent into a well-dressed 4-foot human with tail neatly hidden in adult trousers.)”
That surrogacy, with Mickey, in a way, representing Walt and all of Walt’s dreams for the parks and the Disney brand, remains today, sometimes subtle, but deeply embedded. There is a sense that Mickey is a good bit more than a mouse – scrappy or suave. Mickey represents the unflinching optimism, the determination, the innocence, and the attention to detail that we associate with…well…Disney. That association has made him iconic and has encouraged the park designers to integrate his image into everything they do, almost as if to remind guests that Walt’s often-quoted assertion that “it all began with a mouse” remains true.
Hollywood Studios' entrance forms a hidden Mickey
Among the most beloved of Mickey’s appearances in the parks are “hidden Mickeys” – silhouettes of the familiar mouse tucked into unlikely places throughout the parks and resorts. Guests love finding these reminders of Mickey’s presence and all it represents. They share them online, and entire guide books are dedicated to the property-wide scavenger hunt for the image of Disney’s signature character. Some of the hidden Mickeys are obvious, some may, debatably, exist only in the imagination of viewers. And some, like one of the largest created by the actual layout of Disney’s Hollywood Studios and visible only from far overhead, are put there just for fun and as a reminder to the theme park’s creators, that Mickey and the man he represents remain vital to keeping the company’s focus on track.
Personally, I’ve never been obsessed with the hidden Mickey hunt. I’ll see one of the images tucked away somewhere and smile because it makes me think of Walt and the dream that started the company, but I don’t usually seek them out. But, among the thousands of hidden Mickeys that dot Walt Disney World property, I do have a favorite.
The Haunted Mansion is one of the most iconic Disney attractions, but its history is full of debate and confusion. Although it was conceived near the beginning of the Disneyland planning process, it didn’t actually come to fruition until after Walt’s death. With the loss of Walt’s guiding hand and driving vision, the tone and story of the Haunted Mansion drifted into chaos, and to this day, the classic versions in California and Florida are story-less.
Knowing that, I always find myself leaning forward and smiling as I glide through the familiarly ghoulish graveyard of the Mansion, straining to catch some new detail in the elaborate scene as X Atencio’s “Grim Grinning Ghosts” makes my toes tap along with the swingin’ wake around me. Near the exit of the scene, on the right hand side of the track stands the tall, narrow entrance to a mausoleum. It’s framed by a series of humorous vignettes, the Valkyrie opera singer, a skeletal arm bricking in its own tomb with a trowel…but a peep through the narrow door of the mausoleum reveals a threatening spectre who doesn’t quite seem to fit in with the merriment around him.
The image is actually a classic piece by imagineer Claude Coats – one of his best known designs for the spooky, moody haunted house he had planned. In Coats’ version of the attraction, the ghosts weren’t quite so friendly or funny, and the gaunt, faceless image with its pinpoint eyes rippling in the doorway, seeming to strain against an invisible barrier as it reaches out toward guests, stands as testimony to the at darker vision of the attraction. And then, if you take a closer look at the spectre’s raised, reaching left hand…you realize it’s a hidden Mickey.
Really? On THAT ghost?
And that is why I adore that hidden Mickey. For me, Mickey will always remind me of all the good things about Walt and his dream of a place where families could play together. But sometimes I, like so many others, run the risk of seeing Mickey (and Walt) as saccharine-sweet purveyors of feel-good naiveté. And there’s so much more to Disney, park and person, than that. Disney isn’t just about syrupy sweet joy. It’s about overcoming difficulty; it’s about believing when the world tells you not to; it’s about recognizing the darkness is there so that we can really appreciate the light. That hidden Mickey tucked in the hand of that ghost reminds me of that complexity. It reminds me that Disney isn’t just about childhood cute; it’s about people, our fears, our laughter, and our dreams. Every time I see that hidden Mickey, I remember that being scared can be fun, and that I’m not just a Disney fan because I’m cheery and childish (I’m not usually either). I’m a Disney fan because I believe in a better world – the kind of place that Mickey represents.
Thank you for joining Magical Blogorail Orange this month. Our next loop will be Tuesday, March 20th with an all new theme. Keep checking in with our blogs in between loops to keep up to date with our Disney info, photos and stories. If you are looking for more Disney magic, you can make your way over to The Magical Blogorail website to see all our members and their blogs, as well as all our previous loops.
Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:
1st Stop ~ Focused on the Magic
2nd Stop ~ Heidi’s Head
3rd Stop ~ Disney on Wheels
4th Stop ~ A Glass Slipper Vacation
Final Stop ~ Your Highway in the Sky (You are here)
