Pal Mickey Review

[crazykids]

I wanted to see what all the hype was about so I purchased a pal mickey (sorcerer mickey) off of ebay for $39 to use on our first family trip. Let me say, I found this to be the biggest waste of money & to charge $70 for this toy in the parks is ridiculous!

We brought him to the Magic Kingdom the first day & I carried him around. He went off here & there to tell me parade times, etc. I could have easily found out all of this info in a times guide for free. Another complaint is that it was very hard to hear him talk over the crowd noise, you had to put him close to your ear to be able to hear everything. I have three small children ages 20 months, 3, & 4. They enjoyed playing with him in the hotel room, but when it came time for the parks, they wanted no parts of him. We ended up using Pal Mickey for only 1 full day & he got left behind the rest of the vacation.

This device may be useful for some families, but for ours it was not. Aside from being a pain to carry around the parks & hard to hear, I really didn't find him any more useful than a park map & a times guide. Sadly, our Pal Mickey will be looking for a new home as he finds himself on ebay again in the very near future.

[AbeeNormal]

Sorry to hear about Pal Mickey....:(

I hope you had a great time:mickey:

[GrumpyFan]

Crazykids, while I partially agree with functional/usefulness value review of Pal Mickey, I think you missed the entertainment value of Pal Mickey. For those of us who are Disney/Mickey "fanatics", we find him fun to have in and out of the parks. Sure his jokes are corny, and the games get old after a while, and he's a bit pricey, but we still like having him with us to tell us those corny jokes and sometimes trivial information about the parks. And, the fact that it's Mickey, just makes it all the more fun.

[wedway76]

My son was 9 years old when we bought Pal Mickey and he LOVED him. He got such a kick out of telling us what he had to say, and was amazed when he knew that there was a short line at POTC. I think kids in the 7 to 12 year old range, depending on their personality, can really enjoy Pal Mickey.

[caryrae]

They should make other Pal chacters, like a pal Minnie, Pal Goofy, Pal Donald (he may be hard to understand) ect.

[Ruprect]

My son was 9 years old when we bought Pal Mickey and he LOVED him. He got such a kick out of telling us what he had to say, and was amazed when he knew that there was a short line at POTC. I think kids in the 7 to 12 year old range, depending on their personality, can really enjoy Pal Mickey.

I second this although I'm still not sure it makes it worth $70. We borrowed one from a friend for our trip and with our oldest only being 4 years old it would have been a complete waste for us to buy it. I remember thinking that my kids would have gotten more out of it if they were older but at 4, 2 and under 1 they just don't get it yet.

At least we weren't out any money.

[Von-Drake]

I have to agree about being a little disappointed in Pal Mickey. We bought one a few years ago, and my wife and quickly got over the novelty. We did take Pal Mickey back on the last visit to see if our now four year old son, would get enjoyment out of it. He didn't. I am not sure we will take Pal Mickey with us when we go back in April for our son's 5th birthday.

[MickeyMousse]

We got my oldest son a Pal Mickey when they first came out.....we had a DVC discount so I think it cost $50. But he loved it! We caught many rides due to the short lines reported by Pal Mickey. He also enjoyed the games he could play with it. It was a good investment and it came on the rest of our trips, too. Now he says he's "too old" to cart it around, so who knows if it will make the trip next month.

[MickeyandTink]

Crazykids, while I partially agree with functional/usefulness value review of Pal Mickey, I think you missed the entertainment value of Pal Mickey. For those of us who are Disney/Mickey "fanatics", we find him fun to have in and out of the parks. Sure his jokes are corny, and the games get old after a while, and he's a bit pricey, but we still like having him with us to tell us those corny jokes and sometimes trivial information about the parks. And, the fact that it's Mickey, just makes it all the more fun.

:ditto:
I've previously written about our Pal Mickey :smickey: experience this last trip, but DD6 and I both had a good time with him. It was a lot of fun posing him for pictures in various places in the parks and he did help pass the time when waiting in line. Plus, the trivia info he had while in the WS section of Epcot was pretty neat.

It was recommended to me before buying him to get a good metal carbiner to use to carry him around and that was excellent advice. I usually kept him hooked on a belt loop or attached to my lanyard (when DD didn't want to carry him).

[GrumpyFan]

I have to add that I bought Pal Mickey for myself, but the kids like him too. I was 37 at the time I purchased him, and we still take him with us. Usually, it's my daughter or me who carries him and we just laugh and roll our eyes at his corny jokes.

[Ian]

I totally agree. We bought one when they first came out for like $50 or whatever they charged then and thought it was ridiculous.

First off, the thing goes off every three seconds. You'd no sooner get him clipped back to your backpack or whatever than he'd start vibrating again. So you have to pull him off, shove him up to your ear like a darn phone, and strain to hear him tell a corny joke or spout some relatively insignificant point about whatever park you were in.

I found him really irritating. It was almost like carrying a cell phone with you and having the most annoying family member you can think of calling you every five minutes.

He's rotting somewhere in a closet now.

[Imagineer1981]

i don't think ours has ever said anything about wait times or parades...and its brand new

[disneyboundagain]

$39 on eBay? I know what I am doing tomorrow:D We bought one the first year they came out. It was fun to listen to, and we did get a kick out of it, but it was IMPOSSIBLE to hear! We have been back 3 times since, and it hasn't made the return trip yet.

[buzznwoodysmom]

We tried Pal Mickey back when he first came out and you could rent him for the day before making the purchase. I don't remember how much it was to rent him, maybe $10.00. I couldn't wait to return the little rodent. Granted my kids were too young to get it, but I really rented it for myself. About mid-day I put him in the backpack and left him there until we returned to the resort and I promptly returned him to the gift shop. Like other's have said he vibrated like every 5 minutes or so, I'd have to put him to my ear to hear what he was saying and then all he said were silly jokes. I got no useful info out of him and it just added one more thing I had to keep track of. I am glad to see that some really love Pal Mickey, but he is just not something my family is interested in.