The Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World is a television movie that aired on November 20, 1977.
Synopsis[]
Follow the Disco Mice of the New Mickey Mouse Club as they visit America's favorite vacation spot, Walt Disney World!
After a fight occurs while rafting in the lagoon, the Mouseketeers decide to go camping for the night at Fort Wilderness. However, Nita ends up tying the ropes to their tents to a nearby van, which leaves in the middle of the night and takes the tents with it. Her friends blame her for what happened and exclude her from the group. Heartbroken, Nita runs away into the Magic Kingdom.
After hearing about Nita's disappearance, the other Mouseketeers begin to feel guilty for what they said and decide to go find her to apologize, especially because they're scheduled to perform in front of Cinderella Castle later that night. But when Nita hears them calling for her, she runs off thinking they're still mad and a chase ensues around the resort. As evening approaches, Nita soon finds herself lonely, but the Mouseketeers' caretaker, Miss Osborne finds her and they talk. Miss Osborne explains to Nita that her friends didn't really mean what they said and that they miss her. She forgives her friends and the show goes on.
Throughout Disney's history, there have been three different versions of the Mickey Mouse Club. The original one from the 1950s spawned several entertainment legends and the one from the late 90s/early 2000s gave us some of the pop stars from the last decade.
But this episode features the forgotten version of the Mickey Mouse Club, the one from the 1970s, which did not produce any big stars and only a few went on to any kind of career. In short, the 1970s version may have been the closest thing to Walt Disney's original vision of the Mickey Mouse club when he helped create it back in the mid 50s.
What's special about this episode is that the star of the program was not any individual, but rather the setting, Walt Disney World. When the Mouseketeers arrive at Walt Disney World, something strange begins to happen. They begin to quarrel with each other. After that gets settled, they head to Camp Wilderness, where Nita, feeling left out, begs to try to help in some way, but when she forgets to tie down the tent, everyone gets mad at her, and she runs away, with a performance at Cinderella's castle coming up.
The rest of the group searches far and wide for her, but it's to no avail, as she doesn't want to be found. Finally she is found, but not by any of the Mouseketeers, and she's told that the group's been looking for her. Then, through the magic of television, she's back with the rest of the group for the performance at Cinderella's castle
Cast[]
- Jo Anne Worley as a journalist
- Ronnie Schell as the Mousketeers' manager
Trivia[]
The special's 2020 release on Disney+ includes commercials from its original 1977 broadcast.
Gallery[]
