As a Cast Member at Disneyland, I get some pretty cool perks. Besides the obvious, visiting any Disney park* in the world for free, we also get unique opportunities such as chances to stay in Disney hotels, gifts during park and attraction anniversaries, and photo opportunities, to name a few. I had the opportunity recently to test out the new Pop-Up Disney! A Mickey Celebration at Downtown Disney.

This lucky chance came to me and I jumped at the opportunity, knowing my sister would be in town and could join me as my +1. I was not too entirely sure what to expect, only that it would be a sort of “Instagram museum”, similar to the Museum of Ice Cream. I visited the MOIC a couple years ago at its height, and although it was very cute and fun, I found it unfulfilling because it wasn’t actually a museum. I love visiting museums for the knowledge and culture, not really for the pictures (those are just for memories).

The exterior of the pop-up exhibit, utilizing the space that formerly held ESPN Zone.

Despite that, I was excited to test out the Pop-Up Disney! exhibit, and be one of the first to get exclusive pictures from it. Plus, this was being advertised as purely an exhibit of Mickey Mouse throughout the years, in celebration of his 90th birthday, not a museum of any sort.

When arriving at Downtown Disney, we waited in front of the old ESPN Zone building, where the exhibit had taken shop. As soon as it was time for our reservation, we moved fairly quickly from the check-in table to the waiting area, and then to the first room of the exhibit.

Right off the bat, the waiting area and colored cards (for distinguishing between groups) we were given were very picture-worthy.

They had a TV that showed different Mickey Mouse clips of what each room was inspired by, Mickey Mouse shaped couches, brightly colored murals, and a map of the layout of the exhibit. It was pretty empty. I guess they cycled through groups pretty quickly. Efficient.

Mickey and Minnie’s Love

As soon as my group, the red group, was called, we were invited to go up the stairs and into the first room. The first room was filled with hearts, dots, flowers, and lots and lots of red. The most central theme in this room seemed to be about love, specifically Mickey and Minnie’s (and to be honest, mine too). This was the busiest room, as everyone jumped at every wall, corner, seat, and nook and cranny to get a picture. I managed to get a couple of cute ones.

It All Started With A Mouse

The next room was one of my favorites. It was inspired by Steamboat Willie, the classic animated short film in which Mickey Mouse first debuted with sound. This room was extremely cute, and the first thing I jumped towards was the plush wall. That’s exactly what it was: a wall filled with Mickey Mouse plushies (and a hidden Minnie plush!). it was so satisfying to touch all of them, and I felt like falling back into a warm, welcoming pillow when I leaned against it. I only wish my shirt didn’t blend too much into the background.

The other part of this room had a cardboard-looking cutout of the steamboat Mickey steered in the short, with a moveable steering wheel, except it was out of order! No pictures on the steamboat today. I did manage to take a picture in the plane featured in Plane Crazy, the first animated short that Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse made their debut in. I don’t know why, but I seriously look photoshopped in it. It’s hilarious and cute to me. It’s the last image in the slideshow below, and my favorite from this entire experience.

Mickey’s Friendships

The next room was themed to Mickey’s friendships with Donald, Goofy, Pluto, and the rest of the gang, and felt very much like an art museum. It felt familiar because of its layout, consistent to those at museums in LA. I wish I knew how to pose better, but here are some pictures of the backgrounds and art pieces.

Pictures in this room would be best taken with a bunch of friends.

Sorcerer Mickey’s Magic

I was most excited for this next room. I saw from the map earlier that this room was themed to Sorcerer Mickey and his magic, who famously made his debut in Disney’s Fantasia. There was a lot of content and concepts they could work with in this room. This short piece of animation is beloved by generations and is a defining, pivotal point in both animation, movies, and in our childhoods.

What we were met with was a bright, illuminated blue hallway and room. There were bright lights all around us in the hallway, conveying the water from the animation, and sparkles and sketches in the neighboring room. There were special spots on the floor where if we stood there, it could look like we were casting the magic ourselves. Although it was an incredible concept and design, I don’t think it translated well in person.

The lighting made it so hard to get a good picture (at least on our iPhones it was hard, perhaps it was meant for a fancy DSLR camera…), and it was unclear where we should have been standing for a good background. As you can see in the photos below (and in the other rooms, for that matter), I stood in front of the backgrounds a lot, obstructing them from view. Also, the lighting cast a weird shadow on my face that wasn’t the most flattering. Again, it could have just been that I wasn’t the target audience for this particular room, or that I’m bad at posing for photos. But Sorcerer Mickey is one of my favorites…

Reminiscent of childhood, imagination, and wonder, the icon of Sorcerer Mickey is a classic that can’t be surpassed.

Mickey Around the World

I got so excited when I saw the next room. It was split up into two rooms— one themed to Mickey’s travels in China, and the other to his travels in Mexico, both based on two different Mickey Mouse shorts. I jumped at the chance to take a photo in the Mexican-themed room, as it was a small representation of my culture at the Disneyland Resort. It had papel picado plastered along all of the walls, a bright pink floor, a Mickey-shaped seat in the middle with fringe painted on, and a piñata of a bull available as a prop. Again, I just wish the lighting was a bit less harsh. And that my outfit matched (MORE COLORS NEEDED), but it was very simple yet cute nonetheless. Can I please keep the prop or papel picado once the exhibit closes, Disney?

Forever Mickey

This room was the trickiest to get great pictures and poses. It consisted of a long hallway with floor to ceiling mirrors on both sides and strips of lighting on the floor. There was also a Mickey shape with multicolored outlines around it that made a unique photo spot. The lighting was really dark, which made photos not super great. I probably just suck at taking photos in low light.

Mickey at Disneyland

The final room was a celebration of Mickey Mouse at everyone’s favorite place on earth, Disneyland! There were several photo ops here: a giant plastic red Mickey balloon that you count enter from the back to look like you were inside the balloon, multicolored Mickey balloons off in one corner (I didn’t know we could move them! Otherwise I would have moved them to create a cool background and image. There was also a wall with white roses in the shape of Mickey’s head that had different motifs projected onto it, changing every few seconds. Additionally, there was another wall full of Disney snacks patterned against it. I recognize these items as the magnets we sell at the resort! It was pretty cool to see it being utilized here.

There was also a room off to the side that was very difficult to get pictures of. This was because there was always someone in there! It must’ve been the most popular room in this part of the exhibit. It consisted of clear Mickey ear hats surrounding the entire room with multicolored lights on each shelf, and a giant silver Mickey statue in the middle. It was a pretty impressive room, and I did get some cool and playful pictures.

The final photo-worthy spot was a multicolored stripe patterned room with a black, velvety Mickey statue in the middle. It was very creative and colorful, but I couldn’t get any pictures of me standing next to it. It was across a wall that read, “See ya real soon!” Clearly, this was a final goodbye before the exhibit ended.

Final Thoughts

I thought this exhibit was super cute and fun. It would be great to experience with your friends (especially your friends with great quality cameras!! Invite them to come along!) and family. My only critique is that the lighting was not very good in some of the rooms. Again, it could have totally just been my camera quality, or that I don’t know how to take a good photo (fair; I’m not a photographer).

If you have a couple of hours and $30 to spend at Downtown Disney, I highly recommend going to this exhibit! This is probably only a limited time magic, so this is something you won’t want to miss. Buy your tickets here, wear your most colorful outfit, invite your photographer friends, and have fun!

DISCLAIMER: In case it came across differently on here, I am so grateful to be given the opportunity to see the new Pop-Up Disney! A Mickey Celebration at the Disneyland Resort. I only wanted to express my small critiques and opinions, that really are me just nit-picking. I was able to give feedback at the end of the exhibit, which I gladly did. No exhibit is perfect and while some rooms may not have been my cup of tea, I’m sure others loved them and were able to take amazing photos!

*Excluding Tokyo Disneyland