Mickey Mouse is now 90. The American icon has touched millions. Let’s examine what this mischievous mouse has done in the modern day. The mouse who started it all is still helping The Walt Disney Company.
Starting in the 2000s, Mickey would have a new show called Disney’s House of Mouse. The show focused on Mickey Mouse and his friends running a theater club in Toontown. Other Disney characters came to watch clips of cartoon shorts. Disney’s House of Mouse also had two specials. Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse and Mickey’s House of Villains. The latter is actually on Netflix. The cartoon series ran from 2001 to 2003.
Although he wasn’t prominently featured. Mickey would appear in a show at Walt Disney World called Mickey’s PhilharMagic. The show is still entertaining guests today, and it may eventually get an update. In 2004, Mickey would appear in Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, and Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas. This would mark Mickey Mouse’s first time in a CGI animation for a full-length film.
The Boardwalk Talk podcast even debated Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas. Ryan Dorman and I like it. Ryan O’Reilly not so much. Yet it was the first time Mickey Mouse was in CGI animation. Which essentially paved the way for the CGI animated series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse which was geared towards preschoolers. It would become a staple on Playhouse Disney and Disney Junior.
In 2013, Mickey Mouse would return to his roots with Get A Horse!. The short would combine black and white hand-drawn animation and CGI animation. The short featured 1920s footage of the classic Mickey Mouse cartoons. It even had archival recordings of Walt Disney as Mickey Mouse. The short aired along with Frozen. The short has also been used in Epcot at the Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival attraction.
New Mickey Mouse shorts began in 2013. Showing Mickey in a new modern style in contemporary city settings. They are still going on today. The shorts revival has been so successful. Disney is giving Mickey Mouse his very own ride. At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, guests will get the chance to go inside a Mickey Mouse short with Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
According to a plaque inside Walt Disney Presents at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway will feature a new story and a new singable attraction theme song. The tech for the ride is being described as 2 1/2 D. With glasses not being required.
Imagineer Kevin Rafferty said Walt Disney Imagineering is creating new technologies to make the flat world of the colorful cartoon short into a dimensional display of amazingness. Rafferty said it is one of the boldest and most impossible things they have ever done.
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway is opening in 2019. There are already rumors that the attraction may be duplicated in Disneyland in Toontown. The attraction is highly-anticipated.
Mickey Mouse is an American icon. He has made millions smile throughout his ninety-year history. Mickey will continue to make millions smile for another ninety years. Also, Mickey Mouse will continue to make millions in theme parks, consumer products, and television & film.
What’s next for this legend? Maybe a couple more theme parks? Maybe a presence on Disney’s streaming service Disney+? Maybe even a renewed rivalry with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit? Mickey Mouse will continue to entertain generations. And one thing will always remain the same at Disney, it was all started by a mouse.
Zach Perilstein is the Editor-in-Chief of the Boardwalk Times
