In search of the very first Hidden Mickey

There have been books written about this subject. Websites set up that faithfully log each & every discovery that comes along and/or furiously debate whether a new find is legitimate or not.

What am I talking about? The Hidden Mickey. That deliberate placement of three rounded shapes together so that they then resemble the head & ears of the world's famous mouse.

I'm told that this somewhat subversive tradition actually dates to the late 1970s / early 1980s, when the Imagineers were initially working on EPCOT Center. At that time, Walt Disney Productions management supposedly wanted WDW's newest theme park to appeal mostly to adults. Which is why a decision was reportedly made that the Disney characters should be kept out of EPCOT. So that Disney World visitors wouldn't then confuse this hi-tech, high priced project with the resort's other, more kid-friendly operation (I.E. The Magic Kingdom).

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The Imagineers who were working on EPCOT Center at that time allegedly find this design edict to be rather ridiculous. After all, hadn't Walt Disney once said: "I  hope that we never lose sight of one thing -- that this was all started with a mouse"? Yet here were Disney Production execs deliberately turning their back on Mickey and his pals.
 
Which is why an underground campaign then supposedly got underway. In an effort to twit Mouse House managers and their ridiculous rules, the Imagineers began to deliberately hide Mickey-shaped objects in Epcot's rides, shows and attractions. EX: A constellation of stars arranged to look like Mickey's outline in "Spaceship Earth," a Mouse-shaped pile of stones making a quick cameo in The Land pavilion's "Symbosis" film. You get the idea.

At first, this was just a slightly subversive secret shared among a handful of Imagineers. But then one of the guys from WDI clued an EPCOT Center cast member into the gag. And that cast member eventually shared this info with another cast member ... And the whole thing just snowballed from there.

Today, it's virtually impossible for the Imagineers to build a new ride, show or attraction for the Disney theme parks without including a Hidden Mickey. Why for? Well, you see the public now expects to find that very-familiar-looking-grouping-of-three-circles stashed somewhere inside of each new project for the parks. And -- rather than not meet the audience's expectations -- the guys from WDI now feel that they have to include a Hidden Mickey as part of of each new ride, show and attraction that they add to the parks.

Which is why the Magic Kingdom's latest addition, Pooh's Playful Spot ...

Photo by Jeff Lange

... has these three rocks pressed into the ceiling of Winnie the Pooh's house.

Photo by Jeff Lange

And even though Joe Rohde (I.E. The lead designer on Disney's Animal Kingdom) supposedly laid down the law, insisting that Hidden Mickeys not be included as part of DAK's "Expedition Everest" 's design ...
 

Photo by Jeff Lange

(Why for? Because Rohde reportedly felt that the Hidden Mickey had become a cliche. And that -- rather than continue to run a once-clever idea into the ground -- Joe allegedly wanted the Imagineers to try & do something fresh with DAK's new thrill ride ... Anyway ...)  ... The set dressers for EE's queue area appear to have disregarded Rohde's order. Deliberately grouping a trio of light switches ...

Photo by Jeff Lange

... So that they then resembled that all-too-familiar shape.

So -- at this point -- I guess that it's pretty obvious that the Hidden Mickey phemonenon can't be stopped. Disney theme park visitors are now seeing these shapes even where the Imagineers never actually intended Hidden Mickeys to be seen.

Take -- for example -- this photograph of the upside down room in Epcot's "Journey into Imagination with Figment" ride.

Photo by Jeff Lange

Now I actually know the Imagineer who originally did the art direction for this particular part of this Future World attraction. And this guy will swear up & down that the way those onion rings are grouped on that dinner plate and/or the way those two piles of potato salad are positioned above that sandwich is not intended to be seen as a Hidden Mickey. And yet Disneyana fans still insist on including these two pieces of set decoration as part of their running tally of Epcot's Hidden Mickeys.

So I guess -- in the end -- there's really an aspect of the Rorschach test to be found in all this. That some people are just going to see Hidden Mickeys in places where clearly no mice were ever intended to be seen.

But -- that said --  there still has to have been a first Hidden Mickey. As in: The very first time that the Imagineers deliberately slipped a Mickey-shaped object into a ride, show or attraction as kind of a gag.

Now I know that many folks (myself included) typically date this practice back to EPCOT Center's development phase. Which would then place the debut of the world's very first Hidden Mickey back around the late 1970s / early 1980s.

But let me now run another idea by you folks. One that might push the start of this whole Hidden Mickey phenomenon back to the mid-1950s.

How many of you recall Disneyland's "Rocket to the Moon" ride? That classic theme park attraction that -- via specially created film footage which was then run in synchronization with rows of vibrating seats -- gave guests the sensation that they were rocketing off into space?

Well, below is an image capture from the film that was shown in "Rocket to the Moon" 's pre-show area. Which allegedly shows the hi-tech facility that your Moonliner would be blasting off from ...

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And here's now another shot of that very same facility. Supposedly taken from your rocket as it hurdled off into space.  

Copyright Disney Enterprises LLC

Notice anything familiar about that shape?

Could it be that this whole Hidden Mickey thing actually dates back a lot further than we originally thought? Could it be that -- even as Walt was just getting into the theme park game -- that the guys that he hired to design Tomorrowland's rides, shows & attractions were already trying to put one over on the public? By slipping a Mickey Mouse-shaped object into what was originally to be a fairly faithful & serious recreation of a trip into deep space?

Let me try & get ahold of a few of the Disneyland vets and get their take on the "Rocket to the Moon" ride film. See if they know anything about a Mickey Mouse-shaped object being deliberately being snuck into this Tomorrowland attraction ... Or if I'm just seeing mice where no mice were ever meant to be seen.

In the meantime, what are your thoughts, folks? What do you think was the very first Hidden Mickey at a Disney theme park?