The Day the Mickey Died - In memoriam: Pal Mickey

[TK Brown]

So Pal Mickey is back?!?!? What a twist of events!!! Its like the last show of Newhart....when Bob Newhart wakes up in bed with his first wife from Bob Newhart and only dreamed about the second wife in Bob Newhart!

Simply amazing!

 

[DisneyMomLiz]

PPA I am so happy to hear of Pal Mickey's triumphant return to the family. Maybe one day he will remember his ordeal and share it with you

Thanks for this most enjoyable TR, as I have said before your writing style is great

Off to enjoy my lunch hour with my fellow Disney addicts in our petri dish (aka Disboards)!

 

[Peter Panic Attack]

So Pal Mickey is back?!?!? What a twist of events!!! Its like the last show of Newhart....when Bob Newhart wakes up in bed with his first wife from Bob Newhart and only dreamed about the second wife in Bob Newhart!

Simply amazing!

I know.....it was a shocker to us too. It does seem a little like the Newhart show.....except Pal Mickey's never been married......as far as we know.

PPA I am so happy to hear of Pal Mickey's triumphant return to the family. Maybe one day he will remember his ordeal and share it with you

Thanks for this most enjoyable TR, as I have said before your writing style is great

Off to enjoy my lunch hour with my fellow Disney addicts in our petri dish (aka Disboards)!

Thanks. It's true about all the Disboard addicts though....don't you think? Thank goodness I've maintained a healthy perspective.

 

[Wish_I_Was_At_WDW]

Peter, so sad to see this come to an end but glad for the joyful family reunion with Pal Mickey! I've read a lot of trip reports and this is definitely one of the best! Thank you for updating so regularly too because I hate waiting weeks between updates. Patience has never been one of my virtues!

I'm jumping in on the consider writing a pre-trip report bandwagon! Just think, you could share with us how Mickey celebrates Halloween and Thanksgiving and his advice on what ADR's to make!

Thanks for making me laugh! Even your responses to your fans had me ! You're the best!

 

[SunnieRN]

Me and about 625 million or so other people who will be at all the parks it will seem this coming week. By the way, I never exaggerate

Hope you have a wonderful trip!!!

Woo hoo to having a santa Mickey!!!! My grandson has a naked Mickey that we can't keep any clothes on! I have told him that during our trip to wdw next month he can't go if he refuses to wear his little red shorts! If he learns to behave, I'll post a picture of him on EE for you! Who knows, it could be the basis of your picture!!

Thanks again for a fantastic read!

 

[Peter Panic Attack]

Peter, so sad to see this come to an end but glad for the joyful family reunion with Pal Mickey! I've read a lot of trip reports and this is definitely one of the best! Thank you for updating so regularly too because I hate waiting weeks between updates. Patience has never been one of my virtues!

I'm jumping in on the consider writing a pre-trip report bandwagon! Just think, you could share with us how Mickey celebrates Halloween and Thanksgiving and his advice on what ADR's to make!

Thanks for making me laugh! Even your responses to your fans had me ! You're the best!

Thanks a lot. I'm not sure that I should report on Pal Mickey's non trip related activities......he's starting to get a big head from all the attention.

Woo hoo to having a santa Mickey!!!! My grandson has a naked Mickey that we can't keep any clothes on! I have told him that during our trip to wdw next month he can't go if he refuses to wear his little red shorts! If he learns to behave, I'll post a picture of him on EE for you! Who knows, it could be the basis of your picture!!

Thanks again for a fantastic read!

You're very welcome. I look forward to seeing a picture of Mickey from your trip....hopefully, you won't need to censor it with one of those blurry circles or black bars.

 

[angelmav]

From start to finish, one of the best TR's I have ever read!

Thanks!

 

[Peter Panic Attack]

From start to finish, one of the best TR's I have ever read!

Thanks!

That's really nice of you to say. I'm glad you liked it.

 

[MagicShell]

Great report, I LOVED it! Pal Mickey returning was a fitting ending. Now you can all live Happily Ever After. I hope to read more of your reports in the future.

 

[erinch]

If it is any consolation about Wishes to Tinkershell, belatedly, here's our saga:

We are here at WDW, staying at the Vistana, for 2 weeks. It is very hot, and the family is wimping out early. The two 13 year old females appear to be happier stalking males slightly shorter than themselves at the resort pools at night, as opposed to staying in the parks until the last dog is ceremoniously hung with a Big Bang at closing. I mean, really, you get them in the park at 9 am, and by noon they are whining that they are hot and tired and do we have to "do" anymore. Hello??? People, we're on vacation here. I PAID for these tickets.

Magic, people, where is the magic?? I cannot be genetically related to them. I suggested they put on tie-dye and they all stared at me. At then the 13 year old DD asked if she could get a henna tattoo on her nether region. I said only if it was shaped like a hidden Mickey.

In planning this trip, it was mostly good planning, except for the part where our second week was during free dining, which we aren't doing. Suddenly the parks have filled with hordes of people, who don't have nearly as much right to be there as we do. And have dining reservations, which we don't. Except of lot of them don't either, as evidenced by the yelling red-faced mothers, and sobbing princesses outside the castle.

But, I was determined that MY family would see Spectromagic and Wishes, by God, and that they would ENJOY it, in particular since the 13 year old friend prop that the DD brought along has never been to Disney.

So over we went one evening, getting there around 7:30. I knew that it was a MK EMH night, but I didn't tell them that. The park was teaming with extras brought in to create obstacles for us. They still had the parking guys out, who were parking people in the tail end of Goofy, even though there were tons of spaces up in Minnie.

We elbowed our way onto the monorail, past bag check, into the park, and on to the train. The plan was to see how long the line was for BTMRR. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, she laughed bitterly. The second equally acceptable plan was to ride POTC or Haunted Mansion. We clawed our way to Liberty Square. The sign said 20 minutes. The queue was around beneath and over the hearse. At this point, I told the girls that we could either grab a place for Spectromagic and they could go find short boys to stalk, or we could go see Hall of Presidents again. Strangely, they opted to chill for the start of Spectromagic.

Spectromagic went by. And I felt the same way I always do. Wanting to love it, but realizing my heart's fidelity is for the Main Street Electrical Parade, which I grew up with at Disneyland. Spectromagic is big and showy, but it isn't my childhood. Plus Bald Mountain just stayed shut as a mountain, and those awesp,e wings are my consolation for things that change. The cool thing about the Electrical Light Parade is that it has the world's most annoying song, but if you watch it long enough, you start to love it. And you can weave any other song into it without disrupting the beat. Well, maybe the second most annoying song, with a nod to IASW.

After Spectromagic was over, we looked around at the thousands in Liberty Square, and thought that maybe fighting our way over to Main Street in front of the castle my be a wise idea so we could make our egress in the same calendar year. We sincerely hoped that all of these new best friends were going to be staying for EMH, and we would take a solitary shuffle of shame as non-WDW resort guests out to our car. The town I live in now has 6000 people, except for the day when Punxsutawney Phil makes his prognostication, when we have 35,000, but only for 4 hours.

So there we were in front of the magical castle. Some tall Germans, to whom deodorant is an affectation of wimps, were surrounding us with smellovision. The invisible narrator announced the beginning of Wishes. And, for Tinkershell's sake, I tried to love it, I really did. It has the same plot structure as every other Disney production. It starts out all sweetness and light and white poofy sparkling things. Then it gets slightly more of a pulse, and then the villian threatens red exploding things, then Mickey saves the day. None of this was actually clear. Graham, our DS and an English Major so he knows these things, said "It's kind of hard to do a narrative arc with fireworks."

Then it was over. The kingdom was saved. The castle was pink and blue and the fireworks were white sparkles again.

It turned out that all the thousands of people at the front of the park wanted to go further up and further in, and those behind us wanted to go out and it was total body gridlock. As we tried to inch our way forward, Graham said, "Please don't take this wrong, Mom. But I like fireworks where they just shoot a bunch of stuff in the sky and blow it up. And I like color, not white sparkly stuff. In fact, the only part I really like is the finale. Wishes doesn't actually have a finale. It has a fake happy ever after. Except now I'm trying to get out of the park, and I'm not happy. No offense, Mom."

So there you have it. Compared to blowing a bunch of stuff up, Wishes is rather tiny, even up close.

We took the magic shortcut down the middle of the stores on the right hand of main street, which only a thousand other people knew about, as opposed to the 100,000 battling their way down the center of Main Street. I announced in my most terrible Ursula Voice to the girls: "If you stop for even one second to look at things they're selling, I will LEAVE you here. I mean it."

Wishes made me rather tiny too.

 

[Peter Panic Attack]

Great report, I LOVED it! Pal Mickey returning was a fitting ending. Now you can all live Happily Ever After. I hope to read more of your reports in the future.

Thanks MagicShell.

If it is any consolation about Wishes to Tinkershell, belatedly, here's our saga:

We are here at WDW, staying at the Vistana, for 2 weeks. It is very hot, and the family is wimping out early. The two 13 year old females appear to be happier stalking males slightly shorter than themselves at the resort pools at night, as opposed to staying in the parks until the last dog is ceremoniously hung with a Big Bang at closing. I mean, really, you get them in the park at 9 am, and by noon they are whining that they are hot and tired and do we have to "do" anymore. Hello??? People, we're on vacation here. I PAID for these tickets.

Magic, people, where is the magic?? I cannot be genetically related to them. I suggested they put on tie-dye and they all stared at me. At then the 13 year old DD asked if she could get a henna tattoo on her nether region. I said only if it was shaped like a hidden Mickey.

In planning this trip, it was mostly good planning, except for the part where our second week was during free dining, which we aren't doing. Suddenly the parks have filled with hordes of people, who don't have nearly as much right to be there as we do. And have dining reservations, which we don't. Except of lot of them don't either, as evidenced by the yelling red-faced mothers, and sobbing princesses outside the castle.

But, I was determined that MY family would see Spectromagic and Wishes, by God, and that they would ENJOY it, in particular since the 13 year old friend prop that the DD brought along has never been to Disney.

So over we went one evening, getting there around 7:30. I knew that it was a MK EMH night, but I didn't tell them that. The park was teaming with extras brought in to create obstacles for us. They still had the parking guys out, who were parking people in the tail end of Goofy, even though there were tons of spaces up in Minnie.

We elbowed our way onto the monorail, past bag check, into the park, and on to the train. The plan was to see how long the line was for BTMRR. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, she laughed bitterly. The second equally acceptable plan was to ride POTC or Haunted Mansion. We clawed our way to Liberty Square. The sign said 20 minutes. The queue was around beneath and over the hearse. At this point, I told the girls that we could either grab a place for Spectromagic and they could go find short boys to stalk, or we could go see Hall of Presidents again. Strangely, they opted to chill for the start of Spectromagic.

Spectromagic went by. And I felt the same way I always do. Wanting to love it, but realizing my heart's fidelity is for the Main Street Electrical Parade, which I grew up with at Disneyland. Spectromagic is big and showy, but it isn't my childhood. Plus Bald Mountain just stayed shut as a mountain, and those awesp,e wings are my consolation for things that change. The cool thing about the Electrical Light Parade is that it has the world's most annoying song, but if you watch it long enough, you start to love it. And you can weave any other song into it without disrupting the beat. Well, maybe the second most annoying song, with a nod to IASW.

After Spectromagic was over, we looked around at the thousands in Liberty Square, and thought that maybe fighting our way over to Main Street in front of the castle my be a wise idea so we could make our egress in the same calendar year. We sincerely hoped that all of these new best friends were going to be staying for EMH, and we would take a solitary shuffle of shame as non-WDW resort guests out to our car. The town I live in now has 6000 people, except for the day when Punxsutawney Phil makes his prognostication, when we have 35,000, but only for 4 hours.

So there we were in front of the magical castle. Some tall Germans, to whom deodorant is an affectation of wimps, were surrounding us with smellovision. The invisible narrator announced the beginning of Wishes. And, for Tinkershell's sake, I tried to love it, I really did. It has the same plot structure as every other Disney production. It starts out all sweetness and light and white poofy sparkling things. Then it gets slightly more of a pulse, and then the villian threatens red exploding things, then Mickey saves the day. None of this was actually clear. Graham, our DS and an English Major so he knows these things, said "It's kind of hard to do a narrative arc with fireworks."

Then it was over. The kingdom was saved. The castle was pink and blue and the fireworks were white sparkles again.

It turned out that all the thousands of people at the front of the park wanted to go further up and further in, and those behind us wanted to go out and it was total body gridlock. As we tried to inch our way forward, Graham said, "Please don't take this wrong, Mom. But I like fireworks where they just shoot a bunch of stuff in the sky and blow it up. And I like color, not white sparkly stuff. In fact, the only part I really like is the finale. Wishes doesn't actually have a finale. It has a fake happy ever after. Except now I'm trying to get out of the park, and I'm not happy. No offense, Mom."

So there you have it. Compared to blowing a bunch of stuff up, Wishes is rather tiny, even up close.

We took the magic shortcut down the middle of the stores on the right hand of main street, which only a thousand other people knew about, as opposed to the 100,000 battling their way down the center of Main Street. I announced in my most terrible Ursula Voice to the girls: "If you stop for even one second to look at things they're selling, I will LEAVE you here. I mean it."

Wishes made me rather tiny too.

Holy cow...what an ordeal. But, I guess that's the price that has to be paid to see a Spectromagic these days. Tinkershell would love to have back the Electrical Light Parade too. Apparently, she has fond memories from her youth.

Over the last few weeks....we have figured out that MK no longer does a normal Wishes at 6:00 on MVMCP nights in December. So, now I'm really up a creek. Looks like we'll be braving the crowds on a Spectromagic night as well.....yuck.

 

[hucifer]

Aw Peter, I'm so sad that your report is over. Did you slap kidnapping charges on the Pal Mickey seller? Or did they give you the "we just found him wandering around" spiel? In any case, I'm very happy to read of your happy ending! What a nice suprise.

I echo angelmav's sentiments. One of the best trip reports I've ever read. You have a gift, my friend. And it's your duty to share that gift with us, your faithful readers and admirers. In other words, you better write AND finish your next trip report or suffer the wrath of an angry mob of petridish people.

Thank you for sharing your story! I absolutely loved it.

Hugs and kisses,
Hucifer

ETA: You can change your sig now and have your TR say that it's FINISHED.

 

[Peter Panic Attack]

Aw Peter, I'm so sad that your report is over. Did you slap kidnapping charges on the Pal Mickey seller? Or did they give you the "we just found him wandering around" spiel? In any case, I'm very happy to read of your happy ending! What a nice suprise.

I echo angelmav's sentiments. One of the best trip reports I've ever read. You have a gift, my friend. And it's your duty to share that gift with us, your faithful readers and admirers. In other words, you better write AND finish your next trip report or suffer the wrath of an angry mob of petridish people.

Thank you for sharing your story! I absolutely loved it.

Hugs and kisses,
Hucifer

ETA: You can change your sig now and have your TR say that it's FINISHED.

As always....you are too kind. As for the possible kidnapper....as you know, a Pal Mickey can be quite a handful......and it sounded like the poor sap had already suffered plenty.

Thanks for all of your entertaining comments by the way. Speaking of entertaining......what are the chances of seeing a hucifer trip report sometime in the near future..hmmmm? I find myself growing restless in my newfound sabbatical.

 

[shebaxric]

Hi Peter,
I think I was trying to not finish this trip report. That's why it's taken so long for me to reply. I have had one of the best times I've ever had reading a trip report in reading yours. You've skilfully crafted a wonderful report, with a happy ending twist! I'm sorry that Pal Mickey was traumatized too much to remember what happened to him, but the important thing is that he is back in the Panic Attack family. Thank you for finishing this trip report, and I expect we'll see another wonderful report after your December trip! Be on the lookout for a report for me. I haven't decided whether or not to write one after our November trip, but we'll see.

 

[Peter Panic Attack]

Hi Peter,
I think I was trying to not finish this trip report. That's why it's taken so long for me to reply. I have had one of the best times I've ever had reading a trip report in reading yours. You've skilfully crafted a wonderful report, with a happy ending twist! I'm sorry that Pal Mickey was traumatized too much to remember what happened to him, but the important thing is that he is back in the Panic Attack family. Thank you for finishing this trip report, and I expect we'll see another wonderful report after your December trip! Be on the lookout for a report for me. I haven't decided whether or not to write one after our November trip, but we'll see.

Thanks a lot shebaxric. Don't forget to take some notes during your November trip.....because we'll be expecting a full report.

 

[tlenzendorf]

We just got back today. I'm sad to say I can feel your pain after losing Pal Mickey. Flat Mickey has gone on to better places Someplace at Epcot... fare thee well Flat Mickey, fare thee well... I'll be working on a trip report sometime soon. Must get the pictures done.

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Holy cow, I not only am late to the party, I MISSED the party! Saw a referral to this TR a few weeks ago and it took me till tonight to catch up.

Yay for Pal Mickey being back in the family, and definitely looking forward to the next report.

Thanks for a great report

 

[hucifer]

Holy cow, I not only am late to the party, I MISSED the party! Saw a referral to this TR a few weeks ago and it took me till tonight to catch up.

Yay for Pal Mickey being back in the family, and definitely looking forward to the next report.

Thanks for a great report

Better late than never, at least you found it.


PPA: am currently writing my solo TR. Like you, this has become one beast of a trippie, so I'm still on Day 1 at it's already in the seventh page in Word. Sigh. This is going to take FOREVER to write, especially now that I have no personal time at home.

 

[Peter Panic Attack]

We just got back today. I'm sad to say I can feel your pain after losing Pal Mickey. Flat Mickey has gone on to better places Someplace at Epcot... fare thee well Flat Mickey, fare thee well... I'll be working on a trip report sometime soon. Must get the pictures done.

Welcome back! Sorry to hear about your Flat Mickey. Is there no variety of Mickey that is able to withstand the dangers inherent in a trip to WDW? I'm telling you......they're dropping like flies.

I'll keep an eye peeled for your TR....should be fun.

Holy cow, I not only am late to the party, I MISSED the party! Saw a referral to this TR a few weeks ago and it took me till tonight to catch up.

Yay for Pal Mickey being back in the family, and definitely looking forward to the next report.

Thanks for a great report

You are very welcome. I don't mind you missing the party....but I do still expect a gift.

PPA: am currently writing my solo TR. Like you, this has become one beast of a trippie, so I'm still on Day 1 at it's already in the seventh page in Word. Sigh. This is going to take FOREVER to write, especially now that I have no personal time at home.

I like the sounds of that.....lots and lots of nice juicy details. By all means hucifer....take your time. I'll just check back every 3-4 minutes to see if you've started.

Is it there yet? nope.

Is it there yet? nope.

 

[hucifer]

Is it there yet? nope.

Is it there yet? nope.

Nine pages and counting...good thing it's slow at work, because I would NEVER get this kind of writing accomplished at home.

And details? Unfortunately too many. Those nine page are all on the first day, and we haven't eaten dinner yet. Yikes. Although I think it will get better as the days go on because let's face it, the travel day to get there is always filled with things to write about.