One of the magical and whimsical things adults love about Disney movies and theme parks is that they aren't just made for kids - there are references and subtleties that really only speak to the adult mind, or take repetition and minute attention to uncover. These mysterious gems can reveal themselves after the 20th time watching a favorite film, or elude us despite spending hours in a queue. They are generically known as Easter Eggs, and specific to Disneyland, we know there are hundreds of Hidden Mickeys.
There are some great reference books available on Kindle that detail the vast majority of known Hidden Mickeys, and I strongly recommend them. (You can get hard copies too, but I recommend the Kindle version because you can always have them with you on your phone, making it very easy to pop open in a queue so you can see what to look forward to for the current and next attraction. Also, many Hidden Mickeys in that book are at the start of the queues, so it’s a good idea to plan ahead towards your next destination.)
This post will not be a repeat of those you can find with the help of those books, but rather, amend the Disneyland book due to the new attractions and park updates which have brought forth new opportunities for crafty Imagineers to work in new Hidden Mickeys, and for regular visitors like my boyfriend and myself to discover them.
First, however, I'd like to outline what we consider to qualify as a legitimate Hidden Mickey. Because some are more obvious than others, there have been many a Mickey which was questionable as we observed and debated. So, here are the rules we play by in our quest for identifying Hidden Mickeys:
1. The most common Hidden Mickeys are signified by three circles (outlined or filled / found objects), two smaller ones for the ears and one larger one for the head. However, two ears over an arch like a Mickey ears hat are acceptable.
2. The ears must be proportional to the head and at the approximate angle. In other words, three same-sized circles do not a Mickey make.
3. Minimal separation between the circles for the ears and the circle for the head is acceptable, as long as the proportion and angles are accurate.
4. Repeats of the Mickey shape are no longer hidden unless they are truly well disguised (i.e. it takes a long look before you realize there's a Mickey there).
5. Mickey can be oriented in any direction, could be upside down from the perspective you're allowed!
6. A Mickey which has lots of detail, accurate coloration and is a prominent figure in whatever structure or piece it is in is not hidden.
Alright, so here are the new Hidden Mickeys I believe I've uncovered in Disneyland and California Adventure.
Queue of Rise of the Resistance at Galaxy's Edge: We often start our day by rope-dropping Rise of the Resistance, so this is a great place to start at Disneyland. At the start of the queue inside the rock formations, look right, there's a cutout that looks like Mickey when you get to the correct angle.
Central Plaza: There's a pond near the entry to Frontierland from the Central Plaza. If you look across the pond to rocks along the edge, there's one set of rocks which looks like a pretty well-proportioned Mickey.
Avengers Campus' WebSlingers queue: This new attraction had to have a throwback to the Mouse, and indeed, but I knew it wouldn't be as literal as other Hidden Mickeys, likely. While in the queue, take a look around and find the electrical box decorations between the colored brick wall and grey brick wall. The blocky screws seem to form Mickey proportions.
Bonus: Otherwise unreported Easter Egg from a recent Pixar film!
I don't talk about my day job very often on here, but it is not often when the specific knowledge from my work relates to my Disney fandom. One of the products I support at work is the F-22 fighter jet. As I was re-watching Soul one day, I caught a glimpse of a fighter jet that looked awfully familiar. There's a scene in the montage of the main character trying different theoretical "sparks", where a rocket launches. In the foreground on the right side of the screen, there's an airplane. So get this, I think it's an F-22, and the character's called... 22!
A Google image search confirmed it as an F-22, but I haven't seen anyone else confirm this Easter Egg, so, you saw it here first! Actually, I saw it on April 22, '22 in this tweet.
