Musings of a Moop: Quite Possibly The World's Greatest 'Hide and Seek'

I've often been accused of having an obsessive-type personality. The people in my life who know me the best would probably have no problem whatsoever confirming this fact to any doubters who may still be out there.

When I was growing up, one of my favorite games in the world to play was 'Hide and Seek'. I've often regaled others (whether they wanted me to or not) with tales of playing differing varieties of the 'Hide and Seek' game into the wee hours of many a summer morning. In point of fact, even now, whenever I can play 'Hide and Seek' I'm more than willing to do so. At our annual youth lock-ins, more often than not, you'll find me in the thick of things with the rest of the teenagers whenever we play 'Hide and Seek' in the sanctuary of the church at roughly 2am. Not many things in this world could ever keep me awake past 2am. 'Hide and Seek' is one of them.

Enter the Wonderful World of Disney. I've always been a HUGE Disney fan. I grew up watching the movies and television shows. I grew up knowing the characters, singing the songs. Basically, I was just one huge Lame-O. To this day, if anyone asks me what my greatest vacation of all time was, I will immediately and without hesitation spew forth, "Disneyworld when I was 17." Try me. On second thought, don't. I don't do well under pressure.

When I met my wife and decided to move to California, I did indeed know that I would be living a scant 40 miles or so from the "original" Disney theme park (and this was before California Adventure existed). However, for the longest time the desire to go remained dormant. It wasn't until I had actually been living in Southern California for several years that I took my first trip into the park. It was roughly the same time that I first heard of the Hidden Mickey.

Without belaboring the point, at some time during last quarter century, workers/Imagineers began placing Hidden Mickeys all over the Disney properties. You can find them everywhere (in all the different parks, hotels, restaurants, etc.) and anywhere (I saw one outside a bathroom once). No place is safe. Anytime a new attraction is built, it's prime real estate for a new Mickey to show up. Some get moved from time to time, and some are removed from to time. You get the idea. There are little Mickey Mouses hidden all over the park, okay? Just gonna have to trust me on this one. ºoº See what I did there? Hid a Mickey right smack in the middle of my blog.

It's generally accepted that there are probably hundreds of the things all over the place, and that there is no "official" list. The closest is probably Hidden Mickeys (available at your friendly neighborhood Disneyland kiosk) by Steven M. Barrett, and even he doesn't have them all. Everyone has their own criteria for what they consider a "true" Hidden Mickey. Many of mine are on his list. Some are on his questionable list. Some aren't on any list at all. That's part of the fun of the game.

I try to answer the following questions when I look for Mickeys:

Is it in the general shape of a Mickey head (or in some cases a real picture of Mickey)? Obvious, right?
Does it seem purposeful?

That's it. All there is to it. I know some people will argue whether something is or not, or whether it's a hidden Mickey, or a "decorative" one, but that's just part of the game. And it's part of the fun. Keeps me coming back.

Even so, they really failed to capture my imagination for the longest time. If I happened to see one, great. If I didn't, well no big deal, either. And for a long time, I didn't. It wasn't until I started going regularly when I began to get an annual pass annually (HA!) that I was bitten by the HM Bug. The Trifecta. My love for Disney, 'Hide and Seek' and my obsessive personality all came together and gave me a whole new outlook on life. Worlds collided. Planets divided. The world was fruitful and multiplied. Well, maybe not all that (except the last one, Google "overpopulation" and shudder) but it did begin to become a part of my Disneyland experiences on a much grander scale.

I "mentally" collected them for quite some time, but one particular day when I got on a roll (spotting several on my own with no clues or tips from anyone or anysite) I decided it might be fun to begin documenting them in photo form. Not just for myself, but for the kids (they love the idea of them, but often can't see them in time when we're on rides or whatever).

So without further ado, I present the first of what will probably be weekly blogs dedicated to the Mickeys in some shape or form.

I can by no means claim that I found all of these on my own. I'll never say that I did. Some of them came from a friend I go with fairly often (Mark, you know who you are!), and some of them came from online lists or other people as I was in the parks (Cast members and other Disney fans). The two websites that I like the best are HiddenMickeysGuide.com and this one from a couple of huge fans, Finding Mickey. However, a great many of them I did find all on my own as I wandered around the Park, and I'm especially proud of those. I'll probably make special note of those as I post them.

I'm not out to argue whether something is hidden or not. I just wander around and look for Mickeys. If you want to deem them hidden that's great, and if not, that's great, too. I'm including pretty much whatever I see, and you can be the judge.

I hope Disney lovers out there will appreciate it. All others, well, we honestly don't care what you think.

Peace.