Pal Mickey

[Urbss]

I'm sure this has been asked before, so I'll apologize right now!!! SORRY!!

Has anyone bought the Pal Mickey Tour Guide? If so, was it worth it?

Thanks,
Tom

[sdewan]

We bought one about 3 years ago and used it on several trips to WDW. It's definitely an amusing addition to the theme park experience, although my wife and I seemed to enjoy it more than our kids (2 and 5 on the last trip.) If you just want to go to the theme parks and go on as many attractions as possible, then don't bother with a Pal Mickey. But if you're like us, and you've seen everything 100+ times, and want to stroll around and have interesting details pointed out to you, then you may enjoy it.


My argument against it is that it's one more thing to carry around, and we're constantly afraid of leaving it on an attraction as we get off - so it's an extra burden in that sense.

[Lizzie]

My husband and I bought one when it was just the two of us and we had a blast with it. Will probably bring it and buy another one for our girls on our next trip.

[LuvsTigger80]

i love our Pal Mickey. He always had interesting information to tell. And my 2 yr old loved to carry him in his lap when he was getting tired. Can't wait to take Pal Mickey back so that my mother in law can experience it. Just wish that Disneyland would do something like it. :mickey:

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

Our DD begged for a Pal Mickey a couple of trips ago, and we love it!!

She carries him everywhere, and even though we've heard all of the jokes and tips over and over, he is still super-cute, and we wouldn't go without him :mickey:

[Villains0501]

I bought it and it was fun but mainly in my opinion mainly for little kids. Also i only think u should get if u can carry around heavy stuff all day. r u a pin trader by any chance? cuz if u are then carrying round pal mickey will be like carrying around a full lanyard.... a very FULL lanyard!

[mdhiggin]

We have one, and he is cool to have. We have one of the original ones, and he had to be reset at one of their stores when we took him last time. He didn't pick up the stuff when we went through the turnstile. Apparently, they have to be reset occasionally. We always take him with us on our trips, but we rarely take him to the park anymore. It is one more thing to tote, but still we love him. Once he told us to pull a rope at DHS. It was MGM, then, but the sign on the well said do not pull the rope. Mickey said to pull it and ignore the sign. Intriguing. We had never even noticed this well before. Of course, we pulled the rope. Mickey told us to. A voice spoke from in the well. I can't remember what was said. It was neat to discover new things, though. He told us one time that Space Mountain had a short line, but we were on the other side of MK and too tired.

[MickeyChick]

We used ours for the second time this past weekend and were thrilled to notice that he seems to have more to say than the last time. He actually vibrated INSIDE the Haunted Mansion! He's just so cute and fun.

[Imagineer1981]

great investment, alot of fun to play with, plus you can have fun with it at home, as he asks trivia and plays games still

[Jasper]

I am actually on the other side of this issue. I argued against getting one several years back when they first came out but my wife and kids won the argument. Since the first trip when we bought PAL Mickey we have only taken him back one other time. The whole issue was that he was just too darn heavy to be toting around all day in the parks and was just something else to forget on the attractions. Since I was the one that always ended up having to carry him around I have put my foot down and said no more. If they want PAL Mickey at the parks then one of the others in the family has to carry him. That made them change their mind very quickly about taking him along.

As for the information you get from him I have found more and more accurate information right here on Intercot.

[judoma]

I'm not sure how accurate this is, but I heard a rumor that they are phasing out Pal Mickey and replacing it with some kind of program that works with the Nintendo DS. I did a little google search and found that the folks at Disney did a test run with the DS program earlier this year and apparently they intend to put the program into full swing sometime next year. I don't know how the new DS thing will affect Pal Mickey but it sounds like it's suppost to do what Pal Mickey does plus much more. If anyone has more info on this or heard the same, I'd love to know. :mickey:

[caryrae]

This is a thread about from earlier this year. http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=125586&highlight=nintendo I remember hearing that you couldn't use your own DS but had to rent a DS from Disney that includes the software. It does sound really neat. Here was a picture of someone with one http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/purplemommy/26MK59.jpg

[sophie peach]

i still dont know whether or not to buy one!!!

[Urbss]

Thanks for all of the responses. I got one off of Ebay and received it the other day. I probably only saved about 5 bucks, but that is okay, now that I have it I won't have to waste time finding one and buying it the first thing when we arrive!!!

Anyway, it is really cool. My son loves it and I really don't see it being all that cumbersome (but I could eat my words - I'll try to remember to let you know when we get back.)

Anyway, thanks for all of the responses!!!

[luv_cinderella]

Is it true that Pal Mickey always must be facing forward in order to work properly? Or can I just clip him onto a backpack and he'll still work? :confused:

[mdhiggin]

He's supposed to be facing forward, especially when you're going through the turnstiles. I assume he gets the info through his plastic nose, but I don't know. He's fabric everywhere else.

[Urbss]

He's supposed to be facing forward, especially when you're going through the turnstiles. I assume he gets the info through his plastic nose, but I don't know. He's fabric everywhere else.

This is what I also understood. My wife has a nice Tigger shoulderpack that she is going to sling over her head. She is then going to clip Pal Mickey to the strap in front of her (that is if she can get him off of me and our DS!!!!)

[DisneyBabies]

So, if they launch that nintendo ds thing, does that mean that eventually as the parks change, your Pal Mickey won't update anymore like it does now? Because frankly, I won't pay to rent something like the ds for 4 days (at the estimated cost of $25/day) when I can buy the Pal Mickey for less and continue using him whenever I come to WDW (and at home) without having to shell out even more money. But stopping the update for Pal Mickey just because of the ds thing doesn't seem like a very nice thing to do to everyone who has spent the $$ on Pal Mickey.

[2MuchWDFun]

We love our Pal Mickey...I recommend buying him a Mickey shaped carabiner(sp?) (or a strong, regular oval one) to attach to his loop and your backpack or purse. We (I) carry a very small pink backpack that has our favorite disney pins on it and he is attached to the outside of that. You really don't notice his weight like we did when we carried him on the shoulder strap that came with him. BTW: We purchased pins for him to wear on his outfits...the safari and rain slicker are our favorites.

On our last WDW trip we treated Mickey like Flat Stanley and took pictures of him everywhere. He was seen captaining the boat on the Jungle Cruise and riding Dumbo by himself (we actually had him "riding" on the Dumbo car located near the actual ride)

I know I sound like a looney woman with a serious Pal Mickey problem, but he really is a lot of fun for adults! It was fun coming up with original places to take pictures of him.

[luv_cinderella]

I know I sound like a looney woman with a serious Pal Mickey problem, but he really is a lot of fun for adults! It was fun coming up with original places to take pictures of him.

I think it sounds hilarious... and very much like something hubby and I would do! :thumbsup:

[sneezyone]

On our last WDW trip we treated Mickey like Flat Stanley and took pictures of him everywhere.

I know I sound like a looney woman with a serious Pal Mickey problem, but he really is a lot of fun for adults! It was fun coming up with original places to take pictures of him.

AWESOME! What a fun idea!

[MaxPower]

Has anyone ever lost their Pal Mickey and had success retrieving him?

[mdhiggin]

2MuchWDFun,
What strap? I didn't get a strap. I have one of the originals. Maybe that's the problem. That carbiner thing sounds like a good idea. I've broken my second clip. They replaced the first one at WDW for free.