There are some Disney World experiences that no amount of vacation planning can prepare you for.
Guests might spend weeks figuring out which attractions they want to ride, where they want to eat, and which characters their children hope to meet.
Nobody expects an actual mouse to join a Mickey Mouse meet-and-greet.
Yet that's essentially what happened recently at EPCOT.
A video making the rounds on social media captured a real mouse racing through CommuniCore Hall while Mickey and Goofy were nearby. Guests immediately reacted as the tiny animal moved through the area, creating one of those strange Disney World moments that seems almost scripted.
It wasn't long before fans decided they knew exactly who had arrived.
Forget Mickey. Apparently, Remy wanted some attention.
A Surprise Runs Through CommuniCore Hall
The incident took place during a Mickey and Goofy character experience inside CommuniCore Hall.
As the mouse moved across the floor, guests could be heard reacting loudly. Some screamed while others watched the unexpected scene unfold.
Mickey appeared shocked by the surprise visitor, putting a hand near his mouth. Goofy had a different problem: making sure he didn't accidentally step on the mouse while it raced through the area.
The whole thing happened quickly, but someone managed to capture the encounter on video.
That's when the internet took over.
A real mouse running around Disney World would have been unusual enough on its own. Putting Mickey Mouse in the same scene made the video much harder to resist.
Fans Have Another Name for EPCOT's Unexpected Guest
Instagram account ducksito_magictravels shared the video and immediately made the obvious Disney joke.
The caption suggested that the guests had encountered Remy at EPCOT.
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Considering EPCOT is home to Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, the comparison worked perfectly.
The attraction, based on Ratatouille (2007), can be found in the France pavilion and lets guests experience an adventure from Remy's point of view.
This particular “Remy” apparently decided the France pavilion wasn't enough.
Commenters also made the connection between the real mouse and the Disney and Pixar character, while the post itself attracted significant attention. The supplied Instagram material showed more than 12,600 likes along with hundreds of comments.
Of course, nobody knows whether this mouse had any interest in becoming EPCOT's newest character.
It certainly managed to get everyone's attention anyway.
Sometimes the Unplanned Moments Become the Best Stories
There is another side to the video beyond the obvious jokes.
Nobody particularly wants to find a rodent running through an indoor space. Disney certainly wouldn't intend for something like this to become part of a guest's character experience.
But the circumstances made this particular encounter unusually funny.
Of all the places at Disney World for a mouse to appear, it happened around Mickey Mouse and Goofy. Of all four Walt Disney World theme parks, it happened at the one with a major attraction starring Remy.
You couldn't write the setup much better.
It also shows why some of the most memorable moments from a Disney vacation have nothing to do with what guests planned before arriving.
People remember their first ride on a favorite attraction or their child's reaction to meeting Mickey. They can also remember the completely ridiculous moment when a real mouse suddenly ran through a Mickey Mouse meet-and-greet.
For the guests inside CommuniCore Hall, that story practically writes itself.
They went to EPCOT to meet Mickey and Goofy.
They ended up meeting “Remy,” too.
