Almost 18 years after its original debut at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World Resort, the 4D movie show Mickey’s PhilharMagic is set to welcome a brand new animated scene — this time, coming to Disneyland Paris first.
Pixar’s 2017 feature Coco has the honour of not only being the first addition to the original line-up of musical scenes but also the first film from outside the Walt Disney Animation Studios.
In the new scene, Donald will stumble into the musically-led celebration of Mexican culture with the song “Un Poco Loco”, written by Germaine Franco and Adrian Molina for the original movie. Two stills have been released showing the surprise new musical number.
And yes you read correctly: it’s an addition, not a replacement. The existing scenes based on Beauty and the Beast, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King and Aladdin will all be intact. Given these were completed as long ago as 2003 using computer animation of that era, it’ll be interesting to see how a brand new scene plays alongside them.
The new Coco scene will debut first at both Disneyland Paris and Disneyland Resort on 17th July 2021 (which just happens to be the latter’s anniversary, of course), before being added to Walt Disney World Resort’s original version of the attraction later this year as part of its 50th Anniversary celebrations.
At Disneyland Paris, Mickey’s PhilharMagic opened on 1st October 2018 in Discoveryland Theatre at Disneyland Park, the 4D cinema building previously home to Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Captain EO and temporary movie shows such as Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival.
While the attraction had long been rumoured over the years as a major addition to both Disneyland Paris parks, it ultimately debuted some 15 years late as more of a filler simply to provide a proven guest-pleaser in this under-utilised space. Its French title is Mickey et son Orchestre PhilharMagique.
Unlike the original attraction, where a special wrap-around screen envelops the audience as Donald falls into the musical spell, the Paris edition uses just the standard existing screen with the film reformatted to fit. The comedic physical prop of Donald catapulted into the back wall of the theatre at the end of the show is also notably missing.
Update: Disney Parks have shared an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the new Coco musical number — watch below.