Mickey and the Magician: a magic show with Disney classics

Mickey and the Magician is an indoor show at the Animagique Theater. Mickey finds himself in the workshop of a great Magician and dreams of becoming a magician himself. The Magician gives him a task: tidy the room before the moon disappears, reminding him that a real magician always keeps his promises.

As he cleans up, Mickey summons several Disney characters, each of whom teaches him a lesson about magic: the Fairy Godmother (Cinderella) singing "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo", then Lumière (Beauty and the Beast) with the banquet scene and a waltz by Belle and the Beast, Rafiki (The Lion King) surrounded by savannah animals to "Circle of Life", the Genie (Aladdin) and his Arabian-style troupe, then Olaf and Elsa (Frozen) with "Let It Go".

The staging combines live actors, puppets, live singing, dance, elaborate costumes, illusions, digital projections and special effects. The show builds to the finale "Let the Magic Shine", where Mickey finally becomes a fully fledged magician, and ends with a curtain call from all the characters.

The Animagique Theater building made its name with the black-light show Animagique, applauded by visitors from the park’s opening in 2002 until 31 January 2016. Wanting to move towards more complex narrative theatre, management commissioned Mickey and the Magician. After a few weeks of previews, the show officially opened on 2 July 2016 and by the end of that same year had been named "best theatrical production" by the IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions).

For this critically acclaimed production, Walt Disney Imagineering brought in the British illusionist Paul Kieve, with the designers drawing on the worlds of Georges Méliès and Robert-Houdin to give the show an "old-school" style of magic. This partnership made it possible to weave optical illusions and stage illusion machinery into the story. The set, designed for very fast scene changes, is supported by video projections subtly mapped onto the scenery, creating the atmosphere of a classic nineteenth-century theatre.

The show also made accessibility history: in 2018, it became the first Disneyland Paris show performed in French Sign Language, after two years of joint work by the entertainment, accessibility and disability teams. Since February 2023, the signing performer no longer just interprets from the side of the stage: they are fully part of the story and interact with the characters.

Mickey and the Magician celebrates the magic of Disney through five classics: Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin and Frozen. Mickey, an apprentice magician, meets the Fairy Godmother, Lumière, Belle, the Beast, Rafiki, the Genie, Olaf, Elsa and Tinker Bell in a series of scenes blending illusions and live songs, set to the soundtrack "Let the Magic Shine".