Located near Peter Pan’s Flight in Fantasyland, Mickey’s PhilharMagic is a 12-minute, 3D animation experience, projected onto a 150-foot-wide screen, that’s fun for the whole family.
When Mickey Mouse leaves his sorcerer hat unattended, his pal Donald Duck tries it on and attempts to direct a magical symphony. The hat proves too powerful—or too mischievous—and gets away from him. What follows is a whirlwind adventure through several classic Disney films as Donald chases down the lost hat. Simba, Peter Pan, Aladdin, and Jasmine are just a few of the cameo characters. Keep your eyes open for some 4D suprises!
Mickey’s PhilharMagic was quite an undertaking for Walt Disney Imagineering. Their Theme Park Productions Department actually joined forces with Walt Disney Feature Animation to produce the film, bringing in some of the original animators to supervise production. Mickey’s PhilharMagic was one of Feature Animation’s first attempts at applying computer-generated imagery to an entire film. It also marked the first time they had committed Mickey Mouse and other classic animated characters to this new technique.
Today’s Takeaway:
Symphony orchestras are as key to an animated picture as the voiceover talent themselves. Over the years, Disney has won about a dozen Academy Awards for best song from an animated feature. That says a lot about the importance of the shows’ scores.
If possible, introduce musical instruments to your children. Perhaps attend a symphony or arrange for a tour of a performance hall and talk to the musicians backstage.
For everyday fun, follow this e-how tutorial and make a fiddle from an old tissue box!
You will need:
Hot glue gun & glue sticks
Empty tissue box
Paper towel tube
Brass brads
Rubber bands
Tempura paint
Paintbrush
Scissors
What to do:
- Squeeze a line of hot glue around the edge of one end of a paper towel tube, and press onto one of the short ends of a tissue box. Hold in place for two minutes to allow the hot glue to cool and harden.
- Paint outside of tissue paper box and paper towel tube using brown (or other color) tempera paint and let dry 30 minutes.
- Insert six brass brads into the top of the paper towel tube, placing 3 on either side and spreading out the ends of the brads inside the tube.
- Insert six more brass brads along the bottom edge of the tissue box, positioning them 1/2 inch apart. Spread out the ends of the brads inside the tissue box.
- Cut six rubber bands with scissors. Then, tie the rubber band strings in between the brass brads. Connect each brad at the top of the fiddle onto the corresponding brad at the bottom of the tissue box.
- Strum the tissue box fiddle using a bamboo chopstick.
Add MAGICAL MOUSE SCHOOLHOUSE to your home library!
