When I was a kid I always imagined that when Disney characters weren’t on the TV or movie screen, they were back somewhere together at a place called The Walt Disney Studios. I didn’t know that much about Disney at the time other than I knew I loved their movies and characters. I also know that Disney was located in California and that is the place where avocados came from (strange sometimes the things you pick up as a kid). I also knew that avocados fit perfect in shoes when brought home from California by family members.
My first visit to Disneyland was shortly after my sixth birthday. At this point, I figured that Disneyland must be the same as the Disney Studios. I also imagined that Mickey and all of his friends from the different movies must live at Disneyland. As I grew older and learned more about how things worked, I discovered that it was fairly rare for characters to cross over. And sadly, as time went by this dream of how everything worked faded and apparently just like Peter Pan warned… I grew up and forgot… until I saw Once Upon a Studio.
In Once Upon a Studio, after all the humans leave for the day (and Burny Mattinson says “if these walls could talk”), Mickey and all his animated friends jump out of the photos on the walls to come together for a big 100th anniversary photo in front the Roy E. Disney Animation Building. There are a LOT of characters to pull together for this special photo. As they come together, there are many magical moments from many different Disney animated features through the years with 543 Disney characters making appearances in the short.
The whole short is simply magical. However, what I loved the most about it is that it brought my childhood imagination back to life. The whole thing had Mickey Mouse and all of the different animated friends (and foes) living in the Animation Building and coming together when people weren’t around… just like I always knew they did as a kid! As I watched Once Upon a Studio for the first time, I became a little kid once again. I watched so many of my favorite Disney friends come on screen in new and magical (and sometimes comical) ways. Many of the original voices were back to bring these characters to life vocally as well, which just added to the magic. Knowing Richard Sherman also played the piano during one part of it just added to the magic. The whole thing was exactly how I always imagined it would be as a kid.
Once Upon a Time transported me back to a younger age that was simpler and had zero doubts that the magic of Disney was real. I love how it captured a hundred years of magic and memories and packaged it into a fitting tribute to the ongoing dream that was started 100 years ago by Walt and Roy Disney when they originally founded The Walt Disney Company. This dream continues to grow and live on and this short makes me excited for where the next 100 years of magic will go. I take my hat off to Once Upon a Time. Now, I’m going to go watch it six more times and keep finding more favorite Disney friends.
Mr. DAPs Hat Rating Scale
- No Hat – Didn’t meet expectations
- Hat Nod – It was ok
- Hat Tip – It was good
- Hat’s Off – Loved it!
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