Hidden Mickey Report #6 - Summer 2026

MRS. PIANOMAN RETIRES, SO WE RENTED A "PLAID"

The fabulous Mrs. Pianoman has called it a career, which means that she and I will have even MORE time to spend at the parks, riding rides, watching shows, hunting Mickeys, and so on.

What she wanted for a retirement present was to "Rent A Plaid", officially known as the "VIP Tours".  This is the touring experience where your tour guide, decked out in a plaid vest, gives you the "celebrity treatment" in one or both parks.  As you might imagine, it's pretty expensive, and is really a "once in a lifetime" kind of trip.

Mrs. Pianoman had a brief discussion with the VIP Tours people as to what kind of Plaid we wanted, and she indicated that we were longtime fans of the park, we're not interesting in all the "basic tourism" stuff, and that we were very interested in Hidden Mickeys.  They responded by assigning us a Plaid that was personable, had plenty of "park trivia" questions for when we were waiting in lines, and of course was a Hidden Mickey hunter!

Our group was riding Smuggler's Run, and I passed on it because I had ridden it earlier that day.  So I took the opportunity to do something I've never gotten to do -- geek out for 15 minutes with a Cast Member about Hidden Mickeys.  Most Cast Members are either barely aware of them, or not really interested in talking about them.  But our Plaid had a camera roll full of photos of Mickeys that he was willing to share.  Most of these were Mickeys I already knew about, but I did get a few that I hadn't seen before.

The big moment came when I told him about my site.  It turns out that there are several Cast Members who have been using it to learn about Hidden Mickeys in the Disneyland Resort area.  This was a real thrill for me, because as exciting as it is to find guests who use my site, it's a lot more exciting to find out that Cast Members are using it.

He pointed out that the number "28" on the transport vehicle in Rise Of The Resistance is a shout out to Steamboat Willie.  Also on Rise, there's the panel where Fin is telling you to abandon ship, and a Mickey is made up of buttons.  Hard to see as your vehicle is moving pretty fast at that point.

He pointed out that there's not a lot of Mickeys in Galaxy's Edge as the designers wanted to keep it focused on Star Wars characters.  He then said, "All except for Donald Duck, of course", and pointed out the front of Oga's Cantina.

Big shout out to VIP Tours for giving us an incredible day, and many thanks to my Plaid (you know who you are!) for all your help making the site better.  It's a community resource, and that includes the army of Plaids who lead the tours.

TICKET ICONS COMPLETED

Ticket Book icons have been added for all rides that had tickets.  It's a fun nostalgia trip for those of us who remember them.  Mrs. Pianoman was remembering that when she was a kid, the first thing they'd do is trade their "A" tickets to their grandmother for all her "E" tickets.  Everyone thought they were getting the best of THAT deal, because Mama would spend all day riding Main Street Vehicles, and people watching.  (Disneyland is a PARK, after all!)

For the next round of Easter Eggs, I'm thinking about posting pictures of the wooden figures that are in the rafters of the Peter Pan queue.  I just need to think about how they would be best presented on the site, without making any of the sections too big.

RUNAWAY RAILWAY 100 CHALLENGE UPDATE - 61 MICKEYS SO FAR

Several months ago, I asked a Cast Member how many Hidden Mickeys were on the Runaway Railway ride.  She said that the Imagineers had been told to "Go Wild", and that the attraction was rumored to have over 100 Hidden Mickeys on it.  At that time, that seemed like a ridiculous number, and felt like the kind of lore that would kick around the Back Stage Scuttlebutt Barrels.

But the more that Mrs. Pianoman and I ride it, the more Mickeys that we find.  As of this writing, we are up to 61 Hidden Mickeys after finding five new ones last Saturday night.  Three of them were spotted in the movie posters that line the queue, so there's probably several more in the other posters that we haven't spotted yet.

We also need to get some video of the LEFT side of the factory room, as there are at least three Mickeys over there that I don't have pictures for, and maybe more Mickeys that I haven't spotted yet.  Most of the action takes place on the right side of the ride and straight ahead, so there's probably more on the left that I haven't seen.

It's rapidly turning into our favorite ride, and there's always more Mickeys to discover.  Nothing can stop us now!

HIDDEN MICKEY COUNT

As of 14-July-26:

				Other
		Hidden		Hidden		Wishful
	TOTALS	Mickeys	Unknown	Characters	Decor	Thinking
Disneyland	654	188	409	24	25	8
California Adventure	209	70	130	4	5	0
Disneyland Resort	71	19	40	0	11	1
TOTALS	934	277	579	28	41	9

That's all for now.  As always, this is a good place to discuss Hidden Mickeys, so leave a comment if you'd like to have a conversation.  Join the Facebook page for Hidden Mickey updates.  Or contact Pianoman at:

hiddenmickeywiki at pobox dot com

Happy Hunting!

Hidden Mickey Report #5 - Summer-Ish, 2026

HIDDEN MICKEY HUNTING

We went to California Adventure for the Food & Wine Festival, also known as "Trying To Kill Mrs. Pianoman With Spice Festival", formerly known as the "Mac & Cheese Festival".  When entering the park, there's a big billboard for "Elias and Company / Open 7 Days".  There's a really small Hidden Mickey in the billboard, just to the right of the "N" in "Open".

We headed to the Luigi ride, looking through all the travel photos in the queue, as well as Luigi's office.  There's two photos of "Uncle Topolino" there; "Topolino" is Italian for "Little Mouse".

There's a "Periodic Table Of The Elements" in Luigi's office, but it's difficult to get a good picture of it.  Hoping that there's a Mickey in there somewhere.

At the entrance and exit to the Animation Building, there's a lot of dots on the wall.  It's inevitable that there would be Mickey shapes in this many dots, but there are a couple of small dot/large dot combos that look like solid Mickeys, here and here.

This week we went for rope drop at Disneyland, and did Rise, Runaway Railway twice, and Matterhorn.  I have a lot of Unknown Mickeys on the Matterhorn, so I was glad to get a couple of those cleaned up.  We both took videos on Runaway Railway, and that helped with spotting some of the Mickeys that go by quickly.  However, videos don't give nearly the same granularity as photos, so they're not suitable for "final photos".  There's a feature on iPhones that allows you to take multiple photos in a single shot, and that's probably the best approach for those Mickeys that are hard to spot.

Video allowed me to capture two Mickeys that are in the Factory scene of Runaway Railway.  They are on the right side, just below the flywheel treadmill-looking thing that Mickey is running on.

This one is upside down.

This one is right-side up.

You have to keep your eyes on the "ear lights", as they bounce up and down independently.  If you're in the factory long enough, you'll see them both.  We were in the front when I took these.

Fun Fact:  Your position at the end of the ride isn't controlled by which row number you load from.  Each dispatch produces random results.

Nothing new to report from the Matterhorn, except it sure is a bumpy ride!  They're using the brakes less and less, which makes the ride a lot more fun.  Hold on tight!

SITE UPDATES

I've started adding Easter Eggs to the attraction title line.  I wanted to find a place where Tom Shaw's "Fun Facts" could go, and putting them just above all the Hidden Mickey sightings seemed like a logical place.  I decided to start with those attractions that were in the ticket books of the late 70s.  (Yes kids, Space Mountain used to be in the ticket books!)  

If you see the letter "E" on the same line as an attraction name, click on it to see the E ticket that you would have used to get on the ride.

I created sitemaps for both Google and Bing, and these files help those two search engines locate me and keep my site in search results.  I've been resisting the urge to send Google money to move my site up in the searches, because it kind of flies in the face of the whole "community site" idea.  I'm kind of glad that I avoided it, because my search position has been gradually improving every week, which is pretty exciting.  I've also been getting better Click Through Rates (CTRs) on a regular basis, which is also great news.

The most popular queries are for Cars Land, and Radiator Springs Racers.  I would have assumed Disneyland would be more popular, but maybe the popularity will change as time goes on.

HIDDEN MICKEY COUNT

As of 4-Mar-26:

• 934 Sightings
• 592 Unknowns
• 264 Confirmed Hidden Mickeys
• 78 Others (Decor, Wishful Thinking, Other Hidden Characters)
• Mickey's Toon Town:  69 Mickeys, 66 Unknowns
• Runaway Railway Mickeys:  55

That's all for now.  As always, this is a good place to discuss Hidden Mickeys, so leave a comment if you'd like to have a conversation.  Join the Facebook page for Hidden Mickey updates.  Or contact Pianoman at:

hiddenmickeywiki at pobox dot com

Happy Hunting!

Hidden Mickey Report #4 - Spring-Ish, 2026

RECEIVED MY FIRST EMAIL SIGHTING

This is like the restaurant that frames their first dollar.  On February 18, I received an email from Garrin P, a Hidden Mickey fan who had three Mickeys on Runaway Railway that I didn't know about.  Hopefully this is the start of many more such reports.  Mrs. Pianoman and I can't be expected to find ALL of the Hidden Mickeys on the Runaway Railway, and we definitely need "a little help from our friends".

GARRIN'S MICKEYS

The three Hidden Mickeys Garrin reported are:

• The bass drum near the plane.  This one is tough, because you can't see it if you get too close to it.  You have to step back as far to the left of the queue as possible.  Garrin indicated that this Mickey was confirmed by the Disney Parks TikTok site, and that's good enough for me.
• In the Snack Bar area, there's a BBQ sauce spill.  The Mickey is just below the main spill, and you need to look at it from the right angle to see it clearly. 
• At the end of the ride before you enter the barn, there's a signpost on the right with four signs.  One of the signs is "Fishin' Hole", and the Mickey is the "O" in that sign.

Ther'es also a "Yensid Valley" sign on that signpost, which cracks me up.  I always like seeing "Yensid" references in Disney parks.

DECOR SIGHTINGS IN THE ENGINE EARS SOUVENIR STORE

Garrin also reported Mickeys on the top shelves of the store that you pass through after the Runaway Railway ride.  There are a LOT of Mickeys there, but I'm not sure if they are really "Hidden".  They seem pretty obvious to me.  There are some other hidden characters here -- Donald is pretty tiny, and Goofy appears to have slammed his plane into a barn.  Those two are much better hidden than the Mickeys.

I might put on my "Goes To 11" hat, and try asking a bored Cast Member whether those Mickeys are considered "Hidden" or not.  Maybe I can get some kind of consensus.  If they are indeed Hidden, it might explain why the "There's over 100 Hidden Mickeys!" claim is out there.

SITE UPDATES

As mentioned in the last report, Wishful Thinking reports have been moved to their own page:  "Pianoman's Wishing Well".  I've been gradually migrating Wishful Thinking entries into this location.  Once that's done, I'll be removing them from all the table summary data, just as I did with the "Lost" Mickeys.

I added a "spinner" to the site, which displays whenever links are clicked on.  It's a feedback thing, that tells users that "something is happening" whenever they navigate.  

Checklists are now updated whenever navigating to them.  If you go back or forward to a checklist, it'll get refreshed.  This will enable users to check the box on the main link, then go back in their browser to the checklist and see it updated.

GAVE UP ON SAFARI

While working on some of the site changes, I found that using Firefox was generally a cleaner experience on my iPhone.  I've started using it more often in the parks as well.  I haven't used Chrome for a while, but it's probably very similar to Firefox.  Stock browsers like Safari and Edge are just not great for performance and ease of use.

HIDDEN MICKEY COUNT

As of 4-Mar-26:

• 930 Sightings
• 600 Unknowns
• 253 Confirmed Hidden Mickeys
• 77 Others (Decor, Wishful Thinking, Other Hidden Characters)

The land with the most Hidden Mickeys is Mickey's Toon Town, which currently has 65 confirmed Mickeys, and 69 Unknowns.

That's all for now.  As always, this is a good place to discuss Hidden Mickeys, so leave a comment if you'd like to have a conversation.  Join the Facebook page for Hidden Mickey updates.  Or contact Pianoman at:

hiddenmickeywiki at pobox dot com

Happy Hunting!

Hidden Mickey Report #2 - Fall 2025

This isn't going to be a "monthly" thing after all -- the last post was August.  So it's going to be a quarterly post, with the August post being "Summer".

FRIENDS FROM FRESNO

We got together with some friends of ours at Disneyland and California Adventure a couple of weeks ago.  They were doing Lightning Lane, and I wasn't, so that gave me plenty of time to do some Hidden Mickey hunting.  I also acted as a "Safari Spotter" of sorts, pointing out Mickeys as we saw them.  I did a LOT of pointing on Runaway Railway, of course.

One of the other things I track on my site is "Other Hidden Characters".  We spotted one on Runaway Railway a number of weeks ago, but I didn't have a picture of it.  It's hard to get good photos when you're being thrown around in a trackless ride vehicle.  Anyway, the new listing is "Cactus Stitch", and he's right in front of you at eye level as you enter the Western room (first room after the train comes apart).  It's even got some stitches to the right so that you know it's him.

While they were riding Roger Rabbit, I headed over to Mickey's House to verify a bunch of books and a painting.  There are several book cases before you get to the washing machine room, and all of them have at least one book with a "publishers mark Mickey".  Examples are "2001: A Mouse Odyssey", "See You Next Squeak", and "My Fair Mouse"

There's also this weird painting with a floating Mickey.  I thought at first that this was some kind of weird Salvador Dali-esque imitation, but there's no evidence of a Dali painting that looks like this.  ChatGPT seems to think this was an original concept.

CHECKLIST UPDATE

I did end up creating the Other Hidden Characters checklist, and ended up putting both parks' entries into the same list; there's only 4 of them at California Adventure (so far).

I'd also been working on a "Disneyland In A Day" checklist, which would have persistent checkboxes that also fired a timestamp.  This would enable you to map your progress through the park as you try to ride everything in a single day.

After completing the Disneyland list, I also built one for California Adventure.  At that point, I decided to create a separate Checklists page.

RECENT SIGHTINGS

Spent some time looking around New Orleans Square, and found a few interesting things.  The Royal Courtyard, which used to just be a place to wander around, has been converted into a meet-and-greet.  I saw Jack Skellington while I was there, and there were several parents that were bringing their terrified children into the courtyard for pictures.  I'm not sure a five-year old can appreciate the humor of our favorite skeleton from Halloween Town, as there were a lot of screaming children.

Anyway, I was able to sneak in to the front of the courtyard for a quick picture of the gate, which has a Mickey on the lower corners.  I was excited to confirm this one, as the original sighting dates back to the original site, on 24 Mar 1998.  Gregory Hahn, if you're out there, you'd be pleased to know that someone confirmed your Mickey, and it only took 27 years to do it!

There were three Mickey sightings for La Mascarade d'Orleans which no longer apply as the paintings they belonged to have been removed.  Since they were never confirmed, they don't make it to the Isle Of Lost Mickeys.  But I did manage to confirm an old listing here as well; just below the frosted glass just below the ceiling behind the cash registers, there are these wooden pieces with Mickeys in them.  The original posting for this one was also in 1998, so thanks to Reina, Helen & Shannon for your 08 Nov 1998 posting!

Nothing to do with Hidden Mickeys, but just a New Orleans Square note:  The entrance to Club 33 is no longer next to the Blue Bayou.  It's now located across from La Mascarade, and is marked with a big lit "33" button.  I assume that's a doorbell of sorts.  Anyway, the original entrance is still marked "33", but it's being used for stroller parking.

Over in California Adventure, I spent some time looking for Mickeys in the paint splotches outside Guardians Of The Galaxy.  I had six entries on the site, with only one of them confirmed, so I was hoping to spot some of the missing five.  But instead of finding the listed Mickeys, Micheala and I found four new ones, which brings the number of possible "splotch Mickeys" up to 10.  I've still got five pictures of Mickeys that I can't find, and I'm starting to wonder if they're in the queue rather than outside the attraction?

HIDDEN MICKEY COUNT

As of 14/Nov/25:

• 931 Sightings
• 608 Unknowns
• 244 Confirmed Hidden Mickeys
• 79 Others (Decor, Wishful Thinking, Other Hidden Characters)

The land with the most Hidden Mickeys is Mickey's Toon Town, which currently has 62 confirmed Mickeys, and 71 Unknowns.

That's all for this quarter..  As always, this is a good place to discuss Hidden Mickeys, so leave  comment if you'd like to have a conversation.  Happy Hunting!

Hidden Mickey Report #1 - Summer 2025

Decided to start blogging a regular report in addition to the Facebook posts.  Sort of a summary of events, including any news, opinions, new photos, etc.  Might be monthly, but we'll see what happens.

HELP WITH THE APP FROM MARISSA D

Marissa is a good friend and an amazing singer.  We met in the church band, and quickly discovered that we're both Disneyland fans.  She's also an Easter Egg fan, and has taken an interest in Hidden Mickeys.  

She and her sister and future bro-in-law recently went to the park, and she tried out the site for the first time.  They used it the way I intended -- while waiting in line, look through the list of Mickeys, and make some new discoveries along the way.  

Everything worked great with the exception of the Checklists, which didn't seem to be updating regularly.  After asking a few questions, I realized the issue with them is that they won't update without a refresh.  So if you go to the Checklist first, then to the Hidden Mickey listing, check the box, and then use the back arrow to go to the Checklist again, you won't see it updated until you refresh the page.

Not really a "bug", but kind of an "annoyance".  Going to look into auto-refreshing checklists whenever they are viewed, but I'm not sure if all browsers will honor that from smart phones.

It's mostly good news, and I'm glad to see that the site is working the way it was intended.

OTHER HIDDEN CHARACTERS CHECKLIST?

I'm thinking about doing one of these, but it's starting to feel like the checklists will need to be organized in a different way.  I added all three checklists to the "Where To Next?" templates, so they're easy to get to.  But if I add another one, I'll have to see about adding that to the template as well.

Another option would be to add a checkbox that activates the OHCs on the regular checklists.  That way they can be filtered off and on whenever needed.  I looked into that once before, but was unable to get ChatGPT to figure out how to do it.

HIDDEN MICKEY COUNT

As of 6-Sep-25:

• 932 Sightings
• 628 Unknowns
• 225 Confirmed Hidden Mickeys
• 79 Others (Decor, Wishful Thinking, Other Hidden Characters)

The land with the most Hidden Mickeys is Mickey's Toon Town, which currently has 56 confirmed Mickeys, and 78 Unknowns.  It'll be interesting to see if Toon Town will eventually have more than half of all Disneyland Hidden Mickeys.

RECENT SIGHTINGS

The yellow Mickey above the "Sold Out" sign in Runaway Railway is one of my favorites.  I just spotted it recently, as it's pretty hard to see.  But the other interesting thing about it is that you never see ALL of it at once.  I've only been able to capture 2/3 of it on camera so far.  It's clearly a Hidden Mickey, but due to the position of all the signs, it's just hard (maybe impossible?) to see all of it. 

Maybe I'll see the whole thing if I'm in a completely different position in the Carnival room ... like maybe over to the far left when I first enter.

My other favorite from our last trip is the ballet poster that's BEHIND you when you enter Daisy's Dance Studio.  It never occurred to me to look back there until our last trip.  It's a CLASSIC Hidden Mickey, as it is placed in an area that you are NOT LOOKING AT.  The action is right in front of you the whole time.  It's a great Hidden Mickey.

That's all for this month.  As always, this is a good place to discuss Hidden Mickeys, so leave  comment if you'd like to have a conversation.  Happy Hunting!