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Finding a Hidden Mickey at the Walt Disney World Resort required concentration, attention to detail, and, most of the time, luck. They are hidden for a reason, and you will miss them if you’re not paying close attention.
The origins of Hidden Mickeys are simple. When Walt Disney worked with Imagineers to create EPCOT, he told them he did not want to see Mickey Mouse anywhere in the park.
He wanted EPCOT to move away from the cartoon characters and be a place of learning. Sadly, Walt wouldn’t live to see the completion of his Florida Project, but the Hidden Mickeys would live on after him.
Credit: Brett Kiger, Flickr
The Imagineers working on EPCOT decided to have some fun at Walt’s expense, and they slipped objects that looked like Mickey’s head and ears into the early projects. And that tradition has continued throughout nearly every new project at Walt Disney World.
But not even Walt’s best Imagineers could have created the Hidden Mickey that one New Jersey family saw this week at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Kathleen Eicholz was at Hollywood Studios with her two children.
The family stopped to talk about what they were going to do next. When Kathleen looked up, she saw a giant cloud-shaped Mickey flying over the Tower of Terror.
Credit: Kathleen Eicholz
The cloud resembled the classic Mickey ears and perfectly captured the essence of the classic Hidden Mickey.
Kathleen told Fox35 that she thought it was their very own Hidden Mickey. She snapped a photo, and the family had their own Magical Moment at Disney World.
The family would have seen two more Hidden Mickeys when they went onto The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. There are dozens throughout Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The tradition of Hidden Mickeys has also made its way to Magic Kingdom, including some of the original rides.
Credit: Steven Miller, Flickr
Hidden Mickeys are in “it’s a small world,” Swiss Family Treehouse, and the Haunted Mansion. But the best have shown up in the final scene of Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress. On the mantle is a Mickey nutcracker and a painting of Sorcerer Mickey.
Have you ever seen a Hidden Mickey while visiting Walt Disney World? Tell us about it in the comments below!
I have seen a hidden Mickey that will never again appear unless someone does it deliberately. We were at Carribbean Beach resort in Pirate room. I had gone to the main building for some food for the fam. It was December 2021. It was unusually hot that trip. Every morning. there was a heavy fog. As was my habit, I was looking down, watching where I put my feet because everythingwas wet from dew. As I turned a corner, there on the plank walkeay, was a dew drop hidden Mickey. Yes, I took a pic. It’s somewhere.
In haunted mansion, table setting, 1st one on left, dinner plate & 2 small plates for ears