PhilharMagic coming to Anaheim?

Disney’s California Adventure Reimagined: Last in the series

Not everything Disney has planned for California Adventure over the next five years was unveiled during the theme park giant’s recent $1.1-billion California Adventure makeover announcement.

The most glaring omission: Mickey’s PhilharMagic.

Currently playing at Walt Disney World on a 150-foot-wide screen, the “sym-funny” movie would replace a similar offering at California Adventure: MuppetVision 3D. Disney officials refuse to discuss PhilharMagic, but references to the attraction showed up on several maps and storyboards at the California Adventure press conference.

The 3-D PhilharMagic features an array of special effects — including fog and scents, and water spurts and air blasts — not unlike Honey, I Shrunk the Audience at Disneyland and It’s Tough to Be a Bug at California Adventure (and for that matter, MuppetVision).

While Mickey’s name is on the marquee, the star of the show is Donald Duck (with snippets of classic performances by Clarence “Ducky” Nash, the original voice actor for the ill-tempered animated character).

In Orlando, PhilharMagic features music and movie mash-ups from several Disney animated classics:
* “Be Our Guest” (”Beauty and the Beast”)
* “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (”Fantasia”)
* “Part of Your World” (”The Little Mermaid”)
* “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” (”The Lion King”)
* “You Can Fly” (”Peter Pan”)
* “A Whole New World” (”Aladdin”)

According to mouse-watcher Al Lutz at MiceAge, Disney unveiled only $700 million of its $1.1-billion face-lift plan for California Adventure, with PhilharMagic among the yet-to-be-announced attractions. In fact, Lutz reports that if visitors flock to Anaheim’s revamped second gate, a second billion-dollar improvement phase could begin in 2013.

One possible reason for the announcement exclusion: Lutz reported that Disney imagineers are finding it difficult to squeeze the big PhilharMagic screen into California Adventure’s relatively small MuppetVision building.

You can find all the blog entries in the California Adventure Reimagined series on the theme park page.

— Brady MacDonald / Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

[Image: Disney]

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 7:26 am by Brady MacDonald and is filed under Disney's California Adventure, Disneyland, Family & Kids, San Diego, Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.