As the lights fade, the river is quiet and dark. Then, a very faint musical note is heard, swelling and growing into a dramatic chord. A brilliant cone of light shoots up from the island into the sky, circling -- but with nothing inside.
Another chord is struck, and the cone vanishes, revealing Mickey Mouse. The music becomes glorious and exciting, as Mickey brings the river to life. He then appears on giant water-mist ''screens'' as the Sorcerer's Apprentice, from the film *Fantasia*. The musical score from ''The Sorcerer's Apprentice'' and the theme ''Imagination'' interweave to
accompany the action, as Mickey conducts animated shooting stars and live firework comets flying across the sky.
The mist screens are filled with twinkling stars that dissolve into colorful, blooming flowers. On stage can be seem huge flower petals, changing color and transforming from a pink Camellia to a yellow and white daisy to a purple pansy to a red rose. The petals then become huge green leaves and combine with on-screen animation to become the
flora and fauna of the jungle.
As fog begins to float over the river, the rhythm and exotic sounds of the jungle can be heard. Through the fog can be seen an enormous Kaa, the snake from *Jungle Book*, slithering across the island with piercing beams of light for eyes, searching the audience as he makes his way through the jungle foliage. The Jungle beat grows as floating stages carry King Louie and neon-colored monkeys across the river, which has been transformed into an imaginative jungle where everything moves to the wild beat.
The music changes abruptly to a pulsing, contemporary rendition of ''Pink Elephants on Parade'' from *Dumbo*, as animated pink elephants appear both on-screen and on the island. Suddenly, the elephants seem to be puppets dancing on strings, then vanish, leaving the strings behind. Now the magical strings manipulate three huge puppets, with Pinocchio in the center.
On-screen we see Jiminy Cricket underwater, calling to his pal Pinocchio, in gurgling desperation. A colorful montage of underwater creatures appears. Jiminy then encounters the huge eye and teeth of Monstro the Whale. A combined sequence of film and live special effects show the angry, tail-thrashing whale creating a storm-like effect on the
water, with real water splashing around as Monstro stirs up the sea. The sounds of crashing waves and thunder rumble through the audience, as we witness a ship, on-screen, being tossed in the storm.
A loud canon shot takes our attention to the Pirate Ship, coming around the bend, filled with action. Captain Hook, Mr. Smee, Peter Pan and pirates jump, climb and swing on ropes in a battle fully scored like a scene from an epic swashbuckling adventure film. Following the ship is a huge crocodile -- ''tick-tocking'' as he goes, scaring Captain Hook up to the crows nest, as the ship disappears into the on-coming fog.
The ''Imagination'' theme comes in again as pink and blue clouds cover the river. Snow White and her Prince, Ariel and Eric, and Beauty and the Beast all float by, as if in a dream ballet in the clouds, each so happy
to have their dream come true. But the beautiful music starts to sound a bit haunting. The Evil Queen from *Snow White* appears on stage, calling for her magic mirror -- which appears in animated form, on-screen
Magic Mirror:In the Magic Kingdom, there are many beautiful princesses far more fair than you, my Queen.
The sinister Queen seethes with jealousy and hatred
Magic Mirror:In Mickey's imagination, beauty and love will always survive.
In anger, she moves to her bubbling cauldron, where she creates a brew of evil magic to transform herself in the Wicked Witch. The magic mirror transforms into the ugly face of the wicked witch
Magic Mirror:Imagine THIS!
On-screen, we see her face dissolve into that of the sea witch, Ursula, from *The Little Mermaid*, as out from the river and fog comes the tentacles of a 20' tall Ursula, laughing violently as she passes. Back on-screen, the face of Ursula fades to reveal only her evil eyes -- which transform into the eyes of the horrific Chernabog, from *Fantasia*.
Images of skeletons on horseback, riding across the sky, appear on-screen as Chernabog watches, flames dance in his hand. Then a real burst of flames explodes on the island and Maleficent, from *Sleeping Beauty*, appears. Mickey Mouse sees Malefiecent and shakes in his shoes as she points to him
Maleficent: Now you will deal with MY imagination!'' Another burst of flames signals a dramatic transformation as Maleficent grows 30' tall and changes into a ferocious dragon, on-screen. But, as lightning flashes, you can see through the animated sequence on-screen to a huge 40' three-dimensional dragon, taking over the island. She lowers her head and breathes fire over the river,
igniting it into a sea of flames. The evil side of imagination have now created an island of terror.
Only Mickey can save himself from his own imagination, and he appears as the Brave Little Tailor, ready to do battle. With electrifying laser special effects, he defeats the dragon and all the evil forces. On-screen, we see the dragon, zapped by Mickey's positive powers, swirl into the air and vanish in a burst of pixie dust. A sparkling, twinkling presence can be seen and a magical sound begins to grow, as Tinker Bell appears. Flying about the sky on-screen, she waves her magic wand and showers the Mark Twain with pixie dust as it comes around the bend. The riverboat is loaded with all the lovable Disney characters, waving banners and cheering their hero, while fireworks cascade over the rails of the Mark Twain.
As the riverboat reaches the dock, a flash explodes on top of the boat, revealing Mickey Mouse as Steamboat Willie at the helm. Mickey pilots the boat past the audience in a festive celebrational finale, and then disappears into the fog. Suddenly, Mickey appears in a splash of light up on the Cider Mill, now as Sorcerer Mickey. The music swells and grows, as he conducts laser beams that criss-cross over the entire river area, creating a sunburst effect radiating out from Mickey, proving that the magical powers of his positive imagination are stronger than ever. As the musical theme ''Imagination'' builds to a final chorus, a glorious display of fireworks is added to the river spectacular. Mickey lifts his arms upward as more fireworks shoot from his fingers.
Then, in a flash, Mickey magically disappears from the Cider Mill and reappears again, center stage, in his normal character. All the effects and music abruptly freeze.
Mickey Mouse:Some imaginations, huh? Ha! Ha!
And with that, all the effects vanish, leaving the brilliant cone of lights empty. On a final musical note, the lights go out, and the river is quiet and dark once again
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