Mickey & Company Diamond Horseshoe Dinner Show Review

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Mickey & Company is a character dinner show in the Diamond Horseshoe at Tokyo Disneyland. This post reviews the meal and performance, but more importantly, it features a ton of photos of the experience, a few of which are “Caption This!” worthy. In other words, if you were thinking of checking out when you read it was at Tokyo Disneyland, I’d encourage you to at least scroll through the photos.

Before we get to the photos, here are some details about Mickey & Company and dinner shows in general if you’re considering doing one at Tokyo Disneyland. There’s very little info about these shows in English, and I spent an inordinate amount of time researching them, watching video clips, and even translating Japanese sites prior to our trip, so I learned a good deal about them. There are 4 unique character shows in Tokyo Disneyland: the aforementioned Mickey and Company, Horseshoe Roundup, Lilo’s Luau & Fun, and Mickey and Minnie’s Polynesian Paradise. The first two shows are held at the Diamond Horseshoe. The latter two shows are held at Polynesian Terrace. The middle two shows are the lunch shows that are aimed at a younger audience, as they are more “smile and wave” type character shows. The outer two shows are dinner shows that are more elaborate and, although they include characters, are more enjoyable for adults (they are still very much family friendly).

With this knowledge, for us it became a question of whether we should book Mickey & Company, Mickey & Minnie’s Polynesian Paradise…or both. Since we were traveling with friends who had not visited Tokyo Disneyland, and since the shows are a bit pricey, we decided to book only one show. After hearing some feedback from a couple other people who had been and learning that Mickey & Company is a newer/fresher show, we decided to book it.

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Booking these shows is not a simple process. If you’re doing research for your visit to Tokyo Disneyland, you might find info suggesting that reservations are not possible, and you need to run to the restaurants at park opening to book them. This is no longer true. Now, advance reservations are possible, but only via the Japanese-language version of the Tokyo Disney Resort website, or via the English-language site for those with hotel reservations.

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In other words, if you’re reading this, your only chance at reservations is if you’re staying on-site in one of the three Disney hotels. Don’t even bother with trying to translate the Japanese version of the site, as you won’t be able to finish the process without an address in Japan.

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Let’s assume you are staying on-site. The reservation window for the shows opens exactly 30 days before the day of your hotel reservation at 9 a.m. Japanese Time. Popular days will sell out in minutes; we booked about an hour after the window opened, and one time was already totally sold out. (You can book either the day of check-in or check-out, so a 1-night stay would enable you to see all of the shows, if you want.) There are a few seatings for each show, with multiple seating tiers, each with different prices.

When we visited, the 3 tiers ranged in price from about $35 per person to $45 per person. We opted for the tier closest to the stage (“S”), and would highly recommend anyone else do the same if you want decent photos. You are not allowed to stand up or move from your seat to take photos, and this rule is strictly enforced.

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In terms of the food, you can see a Mickey & Company menu here; note that this is not all you can eat. Some dishes are served family style (salad, bread, dessert), but the main course is served individually. Or, at least it was for us. Oddly, we noticed that every table at the restaurant was served the main course family style, too. I have no clue why we received individual plates…perhaps because we are slovenly Americans who would each want our own plates? Drinks, bread, and salad are refillable upon request, but the main dishes are not.

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This salad was amazing. It had eggs, a variety of fruits, and salmon. The stuff on the top gave it a nice texture, and the dressing was also excellent. Sarah thought this was the highlight of the meal.

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Bread in a horseshoe shape. Nice touch.

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Here’s the Frontier Punch, which is a mix of various juices, and is basically a ‘jungle juice’ type of thing. It was delicious–and I think I had 3 or 4 glasses. In addition to this, I also ordered coffee.

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The meal consists of random vegetables, some of which are Mickey shaped (talk about an awesome GMO! 😉 ), herb stuffed chicken, and bologna sausage on a bone. All of this food was pretty good, and although it does seem like much, this plus the salad, plus the bread left us fairly full.

This “bone-in” bologna sausage has become a bit of a bone (sorry) of contention among some of my friends and me. This sausage is quite clearly processed. There’s no animal that grows sausage quite like this, so…why the bone? They contend that it’s a bit odd that Tokyo Disneyland would find a bone and then put this sausage on it. My position: if I could eat all of my food off of a bone, I would. I yearn for the day when I’m able to gnaw some ice cream off of a bone.

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There are cute little duck butts for dessert. I wasn’t overly impressed with the taste, but the ‘Kawaii Force’ is strong in them.

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Also included with the meal is these handkerchiefs, which are pretty cool. I’m sure there’s some niche market for these bad boys on eBay, so that might help offset the cost of the show if you’re wanting to stay on a budget.

The reason I recommended going for the “S” tier above is because there are points in the show where people twirl around these handkerchiefs, and that would make taking photos from farther back a bit challenging.

Okay, on to the show…

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This dude is the host and maitre d’ of Diamond Horseshoe. He starts the show by wandering the audience, engaging in a bunch of sight gags.

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This guy is a master of facial expressions and has excellent stage presence. The show is pretty easy to follow even if you don’t speak English.

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This is Slue Foot Sue. She owns Diamond Horseshoe and is its main act. She is also the unrequited love of the maitre d’, and his pursuit of her becomes the plot, so to speak, of the show.

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Mickey & Company is a traveling entertainment troupe that Slue Foot Sue has invited for a one-night performance at the Diamond Horseshoe. This group consists of the Disney characters, plus Japanese performers.

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Although it’s a totally different show, there are flashes here of the old Diamond Horseshoe Revue that played until the 1990s in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. That, or my memory deceives…it’s been a long time since I’ve seen the Magic Kingdom version.

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That’s pretty much what I could ascertain of the plot and premise of the show, and I think that’s pretty much it. The show alternates back and forth between English and Japanese, with most of the dialogue being in Japanese, but the premise is so simple that not being able to understand some of the dialogue makes no difference.

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The performer who played Slue Foot Sue was amazing. She slipped back and forth between English and Japanese with ease, and although I can’t say her Japanese was good–since I don’t speak Japanese–she held conversations with Japanese guests in the audience without issue. She stopped at our table for a bit and spoke with us, too. There’s a fair amount of audience interaction in the show, particularly for the first couple rows of tables.

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In addition to the song and dance routines and unrequited love plot, Mickey & Co. actually make the dinner that’s served to guests. (Spoiler: they are actually pretending to make dinner with oversized kitchen props, but don’t tell the kids!)

Note the expression of the can-can dancers in the background. I’m not sure I trust Donald with knives, either…

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Before they start cooking, the can-can dancers toss the ingredients to Mickey and Donald from the side of the stage. I think it’s pretty rude that the dancers wouldn’t just walk over and hand the items to them, but whatever. 😉

This culminates in Donald catching three veggies on top of one another. Mickey is so worried he’ll drop something that he can’t even watch!!!

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Donald is captivated…

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…it’s a little less impressive when you’re a human who catches one thing, as opposed to a duck who catches 3…

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I couldn’t understand what was happening here, but it was just before Donald picked up the knives, so maybe he’s pleading with Mickey to let him use some knives?

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After Donald and Mickey are done cooking, the (actual) servers appear on stage, do a little routine, and bring all of the food out at once. It’s really impressive not only because they are not performers, but also in light of the fact that the Japanese are often viewed as a shy people. Tokyo Disneyland Cast Members seem to really buck that trend and there are stories about how this began prior to the park’s grand opening in 1983 with extensive training programs. Our server seemed a little terrified when she put down our plates, perhaps apprehensive that we were judging her. I’m not really sure, but she shouldn’t have been–she was great!

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If you go to Tokyo Disneyland and see a show with Mickey & Minnie, you are guaranteed a moment when they kiss. There’s a term for this I would use, but it’s been subverted by the smut industry, so I’ll just call it “that magic moment.” When this occurs, there are so many cameras going off that you’d think William and Kate just appeared in front of 1,000 paparazzi.

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Despite incredible talents on stage and mastery of two languages and the ability to flirt with random guests, Slue Foot Sue must be socially awkward, because it’s painfully obvious to everyone except her that the maitre d’ has the hots for her. Maybe she’s just playing hard to get?

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The rest of the show after dinner is pretty much just the maitre d’ working up the courage to approach Slue Foot Sue, and her being totally clueless about the crush. She even goes after an audience member instead of getting together with the maitre d’!

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Admiring his flower?

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I don’t remember what was happening here, so I’m going to assume that the maitre d’ told Mickey about his crush, and Mickey decided to punch him because he also like Sue?

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Mickey, no longer jealous, and Co. encourage maitre d’ to tell Sue that he loves her…

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AND OUR BOY GETS THE GIRL! MICKEY FISTPUMPS IN EXCITEMENT!

(Admit it, you teared up a little…)

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If that got you excited, you would probably fall out of your chair during this scene when Mickey Mouse plays the drums. Mickey also plays the drums in Big Band Beat, and I described that as being pure Disney magic in our Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Report, and the same goes here. I don’t know why Mickey Mouse only knows how to play drums like this in Japan, but it is incredibly impressive. Seriously, I got goosebumps when watching this scene of the show.

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The show concludes with the performers doing a dance line, which is cute. You can tell the human performers are all having a ton of fun with this.

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And that’s a wrap!

Overall, Mickey & Company at the Diamond Horseshoe is absolutely worth the money. Mind you, it’s not as good as the free Big Band Beat show in Tokyo DisneySea, but that’s not a knock–Big Band Beat is so good that I would fork over money to see it as a dinner show, too. As far as Disney dinner shows go, I’ve never seen one this well done; the food is good, the acts are amazing, and the performers are so versatile that we were captivated by even the portions of the show that aren’t in English. If you’re somehow able to get a reservation, I highly recommend it with one reservation: if it’s your first visit to Tokyo Disneyland and your time is limited, you might want to skip it. It is a great show, but from the time you line up to head inside until the time you leave, it’s almost a 2-hour commitment. Given that there’s so much to do in Tokyo Disneyland, you might want to instead focus on the stuff that’s included with admission. If you’ve been to Tokyo Disneyland previously, or have more than 2 days in just Tokyo Disneyland, I recommend the Mickey & Co. dinner show with absolutely no hesitation.

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If you’re thinking of visiting Japan for the first time and are overwhelmed with planning, definitely check out our Tokyo Disney Resort Planning Guide. It covers much more than the parks, from getting there to WiFi to currency and much, much more. For more photos and an idea of what we did day-by-day during our first visit, read our Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Report.

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Overall Score: 10/10

To read other Disney restaurant reviews from Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Disney Cruise Line, organized by location, check out our Disney Dining Reviews Index.

Your Thoughts…

Does Mickey & Company look fun to you? Have you seen this dinner show? Want to see it? If you have any other comments or questions, post them below and I’ll try to answer!

11 Responses to “Mickey & Company Diamond Horseshoe Dinner Show Review”
  1. Jessica November 1, 2017
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