Whenever you visit any part of Disney property anywhere around the world, be alert for Hidden Mickeys! For this article, I explored Walt Disney World areas outside the major theme parks. Let’s start with Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park.
From the Chairlift ride that takes you to the Mount Gushmore water slides, look to the ground on the second level of the mountain just past support pole #4 (counting from the beginning of the lift) and below the right side of your chairlift to admire a classic (three-circle) Mickey made of three round rocks. (Depending on the foliage, sometimes you can spot part of this rock Hidden Mickey from the left edge of the Observation Deck at the top of Mount Gushmore).
» IMAGE GALLERY: Search for Hidden Mickeys!
At the rear of the Blizzard Beach park, a classic Mickey is formed by three stones jutting out from near the top edge of a stone bridge crossing Cross Country Creek. It's on the side of the bridge, near the center. A small triangular rock over this Hidden Mickey gives it the appearance of wearing a sorcerer's hat. You can see this Mickey from the water or dry land. It's visible from the floating tubes as you approach the bridge by water. On land, you can see it through the trees (past the "Runoff Rapids Tube Pickup" area) either from just past the Runoff Rapids "Red Slope" entrance sign or from several points on the walkway on the other side of the bridge.
Next, let's check out a few Hidden Mickeys over at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park. At Crush 'n' Gusher, on the upper floor near the elevator, paint circles on the cement form a classic Mickey.
Mickey ears are at the bottom of a vertical strut in the railing of a bridge. You can see the ears if you enter Castaway Creek at Shark Landing (near Shark Reef ) and look behind you as you float under the first bridge. The ears are toward the right side of the bridge. You can also usually see the ears if you walk downstream on either side of the creek and look back at the bridge.
In the walk-through cave at the rear of Ketchakiddee Creek, there is a classic Mickey impression in the rock. It's on the back wall of the cave, about one and a half feet up from the ground, and near the drain at the right side of the cave as you enter the cave from the water.
Some amazing Hidden Mickeys are at ESPN Wide World of Sports.
Like this one: a three-dimensional Mickey Mouse looks out over the court from near the high central ceiling in The Milk House (the Field House). He’s on an upper rafter above the sign, “The Milk House,” in front of a yellow triangular wall partition that is opposite the main entrance. I found him to the upper left of the lower seats of section 104.
On some days, you may notice classic Mickey circles around the pitcher’s mounds on the nearby softball fields. I spotted this one on field #15. These circles tend to disappear as a game progresses.
Sometimes, you’ll even come across Mickey while playing golf! You can catch the following image while driving by the Lake Buena Vista course. Along Disney Vacation Club Way, when you reach the entrance drive to the Treehouse Villas, look to the opposite side of the road at the golf course and spot three bushes that form a classic Mickey at the side of the golf cart path.
Enjoy the search!
Steve Barrett is the author of the Hidden Mickeys Guide Book Series (Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and the Disney Cruise Ships) available in the Disney Parks and in book stores, Amazon, and on Kindle and other downloadable formats. The WDW and Disneyland Hidden Mickeys Guide books are also offered as iPhone and Android apps. Steve and his wife Vickie (hiddenmickeygal) are the webmasters of http://www.HiddenMickeyGuy.com, and are on Twitter @hiddenmickeyguy and Facebook as Hidden Mickey Guy Disney's Hidden Mickeys Hunter.