Find The Hidden Mickeys

Hidden Mickeys started as an inside joke among early Disney Imagineers and soon became a park tradition (we're not kidding -- the entire Disney-MGM Studios layout when viewed from the sky is one giant Hidden Mickey!). Today, dozens of subtle Mickey images -- usually silhouettes of his world-famous ears, profile, or full figure -- are hidden (more or less) in attractions and resorts throughout the Walt Disney empire. No one knows how many, because sometimes they exist only in the eye of the beholder. But there's a semiofficial, maybe-you-agree-maybe-you-don't list. See how many HMs (Hidden Mickeys) you can locate during your visit. And be sharp-eyed about it. Those bubbles on your souvenir mug might be forming one. Here are a few to get you started:

In the Magic Kingdom

• In the Haunted Mansion banquet scene, check out the arrangement of the plate and adjoining saucers on the table.

• In the Africa scene of it's a small world, note the purple flowers on a vine on the elephant's left side.

• While riding Splash Mountain, look for Mickey lying on his back in the pink clouds to the right of the Zip-A-Dee Lady paddle-wheeler.

At Epcot

• In Imagination, check out the little girl's dress in the lobby film of Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, one of five HMs in this pavilion.

• There are three HMs on the wall surrounding Mission: Space.

• As you enter the Mexico pavilion, check out the large block statue on your right as you climb the stairs -- the Hidden Mickey is right at the top.

• In Maelstrom in the Norway pavilion, a Viking wears Mickey ears in the wall mural facing the loading dock.

• There are four HMs inside Spaceship Earth, one of them in the Renaissance scene, on the page of a book behind the sleeping monk. Try to find the other three.

At Disney-MGM Studios

• On the Great Movie Ride, there's an HM on the window above the bank in the gangster scene.

• At Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3-D, take a good look at the top of the sign listing five reasons for turning in your 3-D glasses, and note the balloons in the film's final scene.

• In the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, note the bell for the elevator behind Rod Serling in the film. There are more than eight HMs in this attraction.

• Outside Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, look for two HMs in the rotunda area's tile floor. (Reportedly, the entire coaster is one giant HM.)

• By the way, the park's least Hidden Mickey is what's called the Earrfel Tower, Disney-MGM Studios' tall water tower, which is fitted with a huge pair of Mouseket-EARS.

In Animal Kingdom

• Look at The Boneyard in Dinoland U.S.A., where a fan and two hard hats form an HM.

• There are 25 Hidden Mickeys at Rafiki's Planet Watch, where Mickey lurks in the murals, tree trunks, and paintings of animals.

In the Resort Areas

• HMs are on the weather vane atop the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa's convention center, in the interactive fountains at the entrance to Downtown Disney Marketplace, and one forms a giant sand trap next to the green at the Magnolia Golf Course's 6th hole.

For more information on the plethora of HMs at WDW, check out www.hiddenmickeys.org.