Extinct Attractions – Once Upon a Mouse

Welcome to Extinct Attractions. This week, I took a look back at a Tokyo Disneyland show that can truly only be described as “unhinged."

This week, Captain America: Brave New World hit movie theaters around the world. While it wasn’t quite at the norms of pre-pandemic Marvel Cinematic Universe films, it was still the jolt that the box office needed after an extremely slow start to the year. Without diving too deep into the details, a key plot point in the film revolves around relations being the United States and Japan, which got me thinking about Tokyo Disneyland and how those initial negotiations went.

It’s easy to forget now that when Tokyo Disneyland was in its infancy, the world was still less than forty years removed from World War 2. A decent number of senior executives had served in the war or had a parent who had, making the creation of a park in Tokyo a landmark occurrence in foreign relations.

Via TDR Fan 

Tokyo Disneyland was originally designed as a near duplicate of Magic Kingdom, with so many of Disney’s resources tied up in designing EPCOT. But the owners of the park, the Oriental Land Company, wanted the park to feel authentically Disney, so their shared aims aligned perfectly in this situation. One place that Tokyo succeeded right from the outset was creating engaging shows that were unique to Tokyo, so let’s jump forward to July 19, 1999 when Tokyo Disneyland debuted Once Upon a Mouse.

Taking over for Feel the Magic in the Showbase 2000 theater in Tomorrowland, Once Upon a Mouse filled the 1,500 seat arena, even as one of the few Japanese attractions that was primarily in English. So what was it all about?

The show started with a few court jesters doing a little introduction of what we were about to see, which was fun but didn’t make a ton of sense until the end of the show. The jesters then helped raise the curtains to reveal more than twenty characters on the stage. And it wasn’t just heavy hitters like Winnie-The Pooh, Woody, and Cinderella. There were also the Siamese cats, pirates and even the dancers alongside Pinocchio in “I Got No Strings." All of the characters came together to sing a song asking where Mickey Mouse was before all of his friends appeared followed by Mickey in a hot air balloon that came scorching onto the stage.

Via YouTube 

There was a long scene break before the next scene with a short cartoon over to the side that helped set up the salon scene that was coming next. Minnie and Daisy were just sitting around the salon getting their hair done, having some girl time along with Cinderella, Belle, Alice and some of the animal friends from Fantasia. It was quite the group of ladies who then went into a song about standing by your man, which Mickey helped validate by appearing at the end in a dapper suit with flowers. Everything about it was so casual and fun that it was hard to imagine that it was just part of a Disney show.

Next on the docket was an orchestra recital with a huge cast of Chip, Dale, Br’er Bear, Flik, the Queen of Hearts, Mary Poppins’ penguins and over twenty other musicians, all of whom had instruments they would be playing, even the characters. Heck, even Dumbo got in the mix, playing a xylophone. Donald came out with a crazy hair-do to conduct this motley crew (with this show debuting four years before Mickey’s PhilharMagic). From there, chaos ensued as the classical music was constantly interrupted by distractions from Chip and Dale on the piano. It was all good fun and fit the madcap nature of the show.

But the craziness had only just begun with what I can only describe as 90s boy band dancers appearing next and doing a West Side Story style dance to the theme of “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" that transitioned into a true boy band style tune. But what is a gang without an enemy with the Fab Five emerging led by Mickey on a motorcycle as the head of a gang. The mood got real West Side Story, then, with the background theme from the show playing but everyone singing the “M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E" song. It was unlike anything that I had ever seen until literally seconds later when Gaston appeared and started singing Michael Jackson’s “Bad," accompanied by Ed, the Big Bad Wolf, Captain Hook and the Evil Queen in old form. It was truly unlike anything I had ever seen and really shook up any preconceived notions of a Disney theme park show (almost feeling more like Captain Eeyore).

Via YouTube 

Goofy got his time to shine next in a dancing segment that began with some talented Irish dancers before Goofy emerged in a wild latex outfit to show the audience his version of Irish dancing. Let’s just say he wasn’t quite up to the standards of the rest of the dancers. He tried his hand at being a ballerina next, along with some ostriches and he really got the chance to soar…literally. He was doing spins all through the air to the delight of the guests.To close things out, he put on his best matador outfit to become a flamenco dancer and assist with the running of the bulls (aka Chip and Dale in a bull costume).

Mickey popped in to close things out. With Tinker Bell’s help, a full motion carousel appeared on stage with the Fairy Godmother, Cinderella and some fairies scattered around to help bring the whole thing to life. Once Prince Charming popped in, many of the other Disney Princesses and their men showed up to dance along with the Sensational Six in full regal grab, helping to finally tie together the jester beginning.

Once Upon a Mouse took the fascinating approach of putting Disney characters in non-Disney situations. There were almost no Disney songs throughout and characters were doing some crazy stuff, but honestly, it worked. It feels like something that would never fly in the domestic parks but Tokyo Disney made it work with aplomb. When I’m there in a few months, I’ll have to check out all the shows to see what can compare. After five years, Once Upon a Mouse closed on May 23, 2004 to make way for one of the few Disney park sequel shows, One Man’s Dream II.

Via Pleated Jeans 

As always, don’t forget to check out my interactive maps of the Disney Parks throughout the years where you can watch or learn more about all the attractions from every Disney park around the world.

Thanks for reading and have a magical day!