Chapter 9:The Philharmagical Nemesis

After "it's a small world", we strolled through Fantasyland to our next attraction, just beyond Peter Pan's Flight. This attraction is also my personal favorite in Fantasyland, and gives an enjoyable experience every time. It's Mickey's PhilharMagic, of course! The attraction, which replaced The Festival of the Lion King in 2003, may very well be the best 3-D show I've ever seen. It's a must hit in Fantasyland, so definitely check it out on your next trip. We came to the entrance and the cast member was waving people in for the next show, which was starting promptly. We all ran through the queue, grabbed a pair of 3-D glasses, and got into the theater before the automatic doors closed. The theater of the show is VERY large, and can accommodate a large amount of people at one time. It's themed to an orchestra hall, as we are going to see Mickey's orchestra perform before Donald comes in and screws everything up...

We were lucky to find seats quickly, the show was just about to begin. The doors closed, the lights dimmed, and we heard Goofy doing his opening spiel. The show starts off with the curtain in front of the screen, and a conversation between Goofy and Mickey. Mickey says don't open the curtain yet, but c'mon, it's Goofy. He does it, the curtain opens, and the orchestra is ready to perform. However, Mickey isn't there to lead them in their musical madness. Mickey's Sorcerer Hat sits upon his podium, just waiting to be put on the head of one so willing to conduct this orchestra through a musical masterpiece. Just aside the podium is Donald, sleeping, but is awoken by the fanatic Mickey who runs on to the stage. He tells everyone that it's showtime...but he's not ready. So Donald, now awoken, eyes the Sorcerer Hat sitting undisturbed on the podium. He lets out a laugh, and places the hat on his head. The orchestra then comes alive, and Donald tries to get control. Well, that doesn't go so well. His conducting skills, aren't the greatest, as a mass racket is produced by one swing of the baton. However, one of the flute doesn't want to stop playing the cheerful Mickey Mouse theme, and Donald tries to throw it right at us! Here's our first glimpse at the 3-D we are about to experience. This doesn't make the flute to happy, so it comes back and hits him square in the head :lol: This creates a mass panic among the instruments, and they come together to plummet Donald into a smoke filled world of musical terror! Donald flies around, trying to escape the instruments grasp. Wind is blowing in our faces and instruments are flying all around us, but it finally comes to an end in the pitch-dark. Here is our first musical encounter, Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast, ready to invite us to "be his guest". He lights up the room through his candlelight and Donald prepares for a great big feast with food flying around everywhere. Ah, the aromas of the the food are real, we can smell and almost taste the food right in front of us! As food flies around the table, Donald discovers the hat, which is what he really desires. The hat moves along with the food, and while Donald tries to find it, Lumiere finishes his song with the explosion of wine bottles...and the corks are headed right at us! You can feel the corks whizzing by our faces, and let me just say that this is one awesome effect. Lumiere ends his song on a high note, and Donald blown away from his hat once again.

Next, we are found in a dark room full of dirty plates ready for washing. And in between the stacks of plates is Donald's coveted Sorcerer Hat! He awakens, but then the brooms come marching in. That's right, the brooms carrying water from Fantasia, along with the classic song. They're here to clean all those dirty plates left behind from dinner, and in doing so, we all get a little wet! Water sprinklings shoot at us while the brooms clean the plates. Donald spots a small little broom who holds his hat, and violently takes it away from him. Not a good idea. Here comes big old mamma broom, who splashes Donald into a world under the sea, and gives us one last spray of water. Here Donald meet Ariel, aka the Little Mermaid. While she sings about "being where the people are", Donald becomes all rapped up in her loveliness. He forgets all about the hat and follows Ariel all about under the sea. So when Ariel finishes up her song, Donald tries to kiss her, and in return, receives the shock of an electric eel making his way through the sea :lol: Ariel and and a shocked Donald climb towards the surface, and out of nowhere, we meet our next musical artist, Simba from the Lion King! He just can't WAIT to be king, and isn't afraid to tell us. He even shows us his roar, as his mouth comes directly at us! Ok, we're safe, but he goes on to sing about being king. We follow Simba and the insightful bird Zazu all around the jungle, until we finally encounter Donald again, who is still just ready to get his hands on that hat. Now Donald's found himself riding on the backs of animals, and his hat seems to have done the same thing. All of the animals are now following Simba on his musical journey through the Savannah, as Donald is. As Simba starts to rap up his song, animal heads, shaped in a circle around a central point, pop out of the screen. They showcase all the animals in the kingdom, giraffes, zebras, you name it, then comes a pop up of Donald and his hat. I really love what they did with this effect, the pop ups just seem to get bigger and bigger with the more animals that are added. After this is done, Simba sings his last "I can't wait to be king" high top of a fountain. Donald and his hat are then blown out of the Savannah, and we soon encounter a whole new world.

First, we receive a first from Tinkerbell and Peter Pan, who are sitting high atop of Big Ben. Donald and the hat come flying out of no where, and each lands on a different hand of the huge clock. Peter Pan jumps off the hat's end of the clock, which sends Donald flying into the air! He can fly, he can fly! Peter Pan and Donald soar through the skies, and even the hat received some pixie-dust of its own. They all float into the clouds, Peter, Donald, and the hat. Next, we get a visit from Aladdin and Jasmine, who are enjoying a magic carpet ride. The wind of the sky blows strongly, as it does into us. The wind just flies into our faces. Aladdin and Jasmine greet us on their magic carpet, and want to discover a whole new world. Donald, who suddenly appears, has a different objective, getting the hat from Aladdin and Jasmine's carpet! Donald struggles to gain control of his carpet, but continued to chase them through the streets of Agrabah. Up, down, left, right, Donald chases them. All around the city they all go, and Donald goes through something more, someone's laundry! He shakes off the extra clothes and continues to follow both of the fellow Agrabah-ites who so unknowingly enjoy a pleasant night. As they finish their singing, Donald finally catches up to them, and tries to grab the hat off the back of the other carpet. He tries, and tries, but he can't get it. It's until Jasmine recognizes him that Donald struggles for the hat. She then takes it and places it on his head, ending his long musical journey at last...or is it?

As the hat sits on Donald's head, he can finally take a break...or not. Iago comes and knocks the hat off his head and toward the ground below, and Donald goes right on after it. This plummets him back into the same whirlwind he encountered below his musical journeys, with all the instruments and the wind effects. Around and around he goes into he's finally sucked in, and finally re-arrives at the concert hall, where Mickey's hat finally returns to its rightful owner. Mickey grabs the hat, puts it on, and conducts a short musical piece with all the instruments, and Donald floating in air. He abruptly stops it, and all of the instruments, and Donald, fall the ground. Donald grabs Mickey's baton, hands it to him, and Donald is then sucked into one of the tubas! Mickey then plays one last piece, his musical theme song. With the pressure building, once Mickey pulls down his baton, Donald shoots into the air and right at you! He doesn't stop there, however, we sails all the way back into the back of the theater. This is where he is suspended in mid-air with his legs sticking out of the hole in the wall (that he made)! And after a few moments, we hear him say "uh oh" and we see and hear him fall with a big crash at the end. Mickey then thanks the crowd, and the philharmagically show finishes.

KKR05's Expert Advice-This attraction is great. It's perfect for the whole family, and is definitely one of the better 3-D shows you'll see. Along with the great 3-D effects, they have the extra surprises, like the water, wind, and smell effects. The show was done perfectly. I can't think of any better way they could've done it. As I said, it's my favorite in Fantasyland, and it is a must-hit in Fantasyland. It'll be a hit with the little ones, the older folk will enjoy it as well.

After the show is all said and done, Goofy comes over the intercom and tells us to have a philharmagically day. Sure will, Goofy. We got up, moved down the aisle, and made our way up the exit. We dropped our glasses in a bin and arrived back out in the Fantasyland midway. Well, what was next? It was time to split up. The others wanted to go see Cinderellabration, so it was time to do want we wanted to do. And, in one word, I'll tell you all...Tomorrowland.