In an earlier post, we explored the Royal Concert Hall in Fantasyland, home to Mickey's PhilharMagic. This spot has actually hosted a number of different attractions over the years. When PhilharMagic opened in 2003, it replaced Legend of the Lion King (94-02), a stage show which combined large-scale puppets and special effects to retell the story of the 1994 animated feature.
Going back a bit further, we discover that Mickey's PhilharMagic was also preceded by another 3-D presentation, Magic Journeys. Magic Journeys had originally been a feature of the Journey Into Imagination pavilion at EPCOT Center, playing there from 1982-1986 until it was replaced by Captain EO. The following year, it shifted to the Fantasyland Theater where it was screened along with a 3-D pre-show of the 1953 animated short "Working for Peanuts."
In the years between 1980 and 1987, the theater bore the generic marquee of Fantasyland Theater, often playing host to Cast Member events. During the warm summer months, the theater was also open to Guests who were invited in for continuous screenings of classic Disney animated shorts.
The original occupant of this space was actually a direct cousin to PhilharMagic, the Mickey Mouse Revue. This attraction featured popular Disney characters in musical vignettes from their films, all brought to life through Audio-Animatronics. The show ran at Walt Disney World from 1971-1980, at which point it was relocated to Japan for the opening of Tokyo Disneyland (it closed there last year to make way for Mickey's PhilharMagic).
This post just created one of those wonderful "Aha!" moments for me. I have a strong memory from my first trip to Disney in 1991, sitting on the floor, watching "Working for Peanuts" and taking my glasses off momentarily to see what the screen looked like without them. I can't remember much about the actual Magic Journeys show though..
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