The main show of Mickey's surprise party, set in Minnie's kitchen.

The second part of the show for Mickey's surprise party. The first picture was taken in 1988, and the second in 1989. Notice how more decorations were added after the first year.

Once the party was over, guests could explore the town of Duckburg, where Mickey's house was located. Although this fact may seem curious now, remember that this was 1988, the same year that "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" was released. Most guests wouldn't have known what Toontown was. But Duckburg was seen in the popular "DuckTales" television show. There were several storefronts that guests could view, as well as Grandma Duck's Farm, a petting farm where, among other things, guests could see Minnie Moo, a cow with a silhouette of Mickey on her side.

The sign welcoming you to Duckburg. "Population - 'bill'ions and still growing."

The Duckburg News building. There were several facades such as this one around the area that actually helped to hide the show tents.

The next major celebration at WDW was the Millennium Celebration, which ran from October 1, 1999 to January 1, 2001. The Millennium Celebration was centered at Epcot, which really made sense compared to the other parks. The first thing noticeable at Epcot was the transformation of Spaceship Earth; a large Mickey hand holding a magic wand waving a large "2000" over Spaceship Earth was added, and it was quite visible from all over the park.

Spaceship Earth with the 2000 logo.

Epcot featured two new shows for the Millennium Celebration, both of which are still playing even though the celebration has ended. The first is the Tapestry of Nations parade around the World Showcase Lagoon. This parade features large floats with several drums, and a drummer on each side of the float that plays along with the pre-recorded parade music. The other main elements of this parade are large figures, which are actually rod puppets, so that the puppet's hands and feet are controlled by rods attached to the puppeteer's hands and feet. All this is set to music that I would describe as world music, because I can't think of any other classification for it. It has a chant-like sound that is quite interesting. We hadn't planned on seeing this parade, but we happened upon it as we were exiting the American Adventure one night, and we immediately loved it. I had already bought the Millennium Celebration CD, so I was familiar with the music, but seeing the parade along with the music made it even better.

Spaceship Earth as seen across the World Showcase Lagoon.

The other new show for the Millennium Celebration was Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. Unlike Illuminations 25, which wasn't that different from the original version except for different music, this show was completely new. The torches added around the lagoon greatly add to the atmosphere, and I feel that the show is quite an improvement over the last version. The huge video globe that moves to the center of the lagoon is also quite impressive. Don Dorsey, who was in charge of the music for the Main Street Electrical Parade, designed and produced this show, as he had done for the original Illuminations.

Spaceship Earth and the Epcot Christmas tree as seen across the World Showcase Lagoon at night.

As mentioned in the last story, it appears that the next big celebration will be 100 Years of Magic, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Walt Disney. Events are being planned in each WDW park, including new parades in the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. After that, who knows what the future holds?

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- Story and Photos by Steve Burns
Posted

Steve is a three-time Disney Store National Trivia finalist and webmaster of BurnsLand, home of Steve's Disney Railroad Adventures.

E-mail Steve at steve@startedbyamouse.com, discuss this article in the StartedByAMouse.com Disney Discussion Forums or use the Talkback feature below.

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