Mickey Mouse and all his pals are ready for summer fun in The Wonderful Summer of Mickey Mouse, the third seasonal special from The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse. This one didn’t have as many Easter Eggs as the previous two, but it’s still a lot of fun. Here’s a recap, along with a few cameos you might have missed.
Mickey is racing his boat towards the marina for the Summer Spectacular fireworks show and traffic is bad! In the background we see a helicopter dive into the forest, sending chopped logs into the waterway; a car in the river with stacked cargo spills it everywhere; a luxury yacht falls out of the sky. As all of this compounds, Mickey’s boat rises up on a wave and crashes into the floating fireworks barge along with the helicopter, car, and yacht. The barge is destroyed and the fireworks spectacular is over! As the rubble clears, we see Mickey with Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy surprised to see each other on the barge. The Mayor (played by the Walrus from Alice in Wonderland, a role he carries over from The Wonderful Spring of Mickey Mouse) is angry and he demands answers to determine who is responsible. Each of the friends tell their version of the events.
Mickey’s Side of the Story
It’s 2:00 am and Mickey calls all his pals to review their plans for the Summer Spectacular. Determined not to repeat past mistakes where they were unable to see the show, Mickey plans to get there early to get the perfect spot. Everyone else is assigned a responsibility and will meet him there at 6:00 pm.
Cut to Mickey in his boat, pulling out a cassette tape of Summer Jams and putting them on. He arrives at the marina bright and early and gets the best spot, greeted by Chuuby (from Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway). Chuuby lands on Mickey’s head and begins to peck at him. The scene dissolves and we see that it’s actually a crow that flew into Mickey’s bedroom. He was dreaming! It’s now 4:00 pm and he’s way behind. We see him jump into his boat and race through the waterway, repeating the events of the intro.
Minnie’s Side of the Story
Minnie is tired during the 2:00 am group call, but agrees to bring everything they need, telling everyone to just show up on time. Off the call, she decides to bring double of everything to avoid any mishaps. We see her baking pies with some help from Snow White’s forest friends (for sanitary reasons, Minnie is unhappy about it).
Minnie overloads her car, stuffing everything under a soft top that breaks shortly after she starts driving. She goes slow, trying not to spill anything, but angry drivers behind her put on some pressure as she causes a traffic jam. Worse, the heat of the sun is melting the ice cream! She turns the air conditioner on high to freeze her tower of stuff, suddenly finding some alpine climbers on board. She drives under a tree branch to flick them off, shouting “See ya lederhosen,” but the distraction caused her to crash through a guardrail and onto train tracks.
More bad things happen, including soda bottles starting to expand from the pressure right next to a pack of “mintos.” She narrowly avoids a train in a tunnel and once through it, she finds that the bridge to the marina is going up to let a luxury yacht sail under it. She tries to beat it but on the incline, the mintos fall into the soda and she rockets into the atmosphere. On her way back down, items from her cargo fly into the blades of a helicopter. Landing in the river, Minnie pulls out a paddle and tries to sail her car to the barge, but a wave from a falling yacht sends her crashing into the stage and all of her stuff explodes around the boardwalk.
Daisy’s Side of the Story
During the 2:00 am call, Mickey reminds everyone to be on time and Daisy feels like it was directed at her because she was 20 seconds late once for Mickey’s party celebrating Pluto’s New Trick (he has a Felix the Cat clock on the wall). But she also refuses to get there early, flashing back to a time she showed up 5 minutes early and the conversation with Mickey was awkward. She promises herself that she will get there at 6:00 pm.
Cut to 5:55 pm when a crash outside her house wakes Daisy up! She races outside to find her car has been destroyed in her driveway. She finds the only taxi available, but the driver is on his tea break. Daisy frantically searches for another ride, spotting Suzie the Little Blue Coup, a Duck Tours boat, and ultimately trying to hitch a ride on a garbage truck (the raccoons in the back kick her out).
She goes back to the taxi driver on his tea break and scares him into wrapping it up. Now on her way, she is next stopped by bad traffic (caused by Minnie) and as Daisy checks the time on her Mickey Mouse watch, she imagines Mickey taunting her to not be late.
Frustrated, Daisy gets out of the taxi and proceeds on foot, running over cars. A convertible driven by Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar opens its top at the wrong moment, springing Daisy backward… all the way to her house! A luxury yacht sails by and Scrooge McDuck waves to Daisy, who asks for a ride.
Daisy takes control of the yacht and races through the waterway to try and get to the barge on time. A flock of waterskis going in the opposite direction causes her to spin out, sliding up the side of the mountain and crashing back into the marina, causing a tidal wave and careening towards the barge.
Donald’s Point of View
During the 2:00 am call, Donald remained completely silent. After it, he mumbled about knowing that Mickey would mess everything up and vowing to see the fireworks show no matter what. Instead of sleeping, he spends his night building a helicopter. When completed, we see him bragging about not having to use all the parts (the box of leftovers includes an engine). Getting in and starting it up, he pulls out a “How to Fly” book that gets sucked into the blades and destroyed, but he doesn’t seem worried.
Pinning a photo of fireworks over Daisy’s on his dashboard, he fantasizes about flying with Daisy to see the show, his girlfriend calling him a genius. He flies to her house to pick her up, but as he hovers over her car, a screw falls off the helicopter and it suddenly drops… onto Daisy’s car! Embarrassed, Donald flies away after making a lout crashing sound.
Flying alone to the marina, a big pile of stuff gets in his way (from Minnie’s car) and a bottle of soda gets stuck to his wheels, making contact with mintos. The eruption sends the helicopter flying up to Earth’s atmosphere and then it falls back down. Donald tries to regain control but crashes into a forest near the marina, chopping trees, and sending logs flying into the water. Regaining control, he gets back on course towards the barge when a ton of food suddenly hits the blades, a piece of bread obstructing Donald’s view, sending him into the marina just as a luxury yacht creates a wave that sends the chopper into the barge.
Goofy’s Side of the Story
Goofy’s recollection of the 2:00 am call is everyone speaking gibberish. Panning back, we see that he was in his camper on the marina right by the barge. “Gawrsh, I hope Mickey finds that perfect spot,” he hayucks. His responsibility is to look for summer fun to entertain the gang before the show. The boardwalk is bombarded with options, including tandem bikes, beach balls, and jetskis, the latter of which blows his mind.
At the kiosk, Goofy rents ten wet skis (“One for each foot!”) and the segment suddenly becomes a narrated “How To” short about wet skiing (or shee-ing, a nod to The Art of Skiing). Wrangling and riding all ten wet skis at once, things go horribly wrong and they all get sent in the opposite direction of the water traffic. In a crowd of onlookers, we see Oswald the Lucky Rabbit watching the unlucky accident.
During the resulting crash, Goofy flies into the air and gets smacked down by a falling luxury yacht. “And they all lived happily ever after; The end,” he concludes, closing the book he was reading from.
Conclusion
Mickey realizes they were all at fault for the destruction of the barge and the Mayor is too disappointed to make any arrests. He gets on a speaker to announce that the Summer Spectacular has been canceled and we see the resulting sadness, including two floats from The Beach Picnic that deflate themselves.
Mickey is determined to make things right. When he steps on some of Minnie’s condiments, ketchup and mustard squirt into the air and he gets an idea, pulling his pals into a huddle and whispering a plan. They scoop all the debris out of the lake, attach soda bottles to wet skis, and fix the helicopter. Mickey takes the mic and introduces a new Summer Spectacular, but when they push the button nothing happens. Mickey inspects the display and realizes a tape in a machine broke, breaking apart his Summer Jams cassette and replacing the spool.
Minnie knocks her food into the helicopter blades, distributing snacks to onlookers around the marina. A fireworks show made entirely of exploding sodas and condiments begins. Among the onlookers are Elmer Elephant and Tilly Tiger from the classic Silly Symphony short.
The Mayor is so pleased that he joins Scrooge’s yacht party. Mickey and his pals watch the show from the stage, the very best spot in the marina. “We really made this summer spectacular,” he declares.
I hope you enjoyed this recap of The Wonderful Summer of Mickey Mouse. I’ll be back in a few months when the fourth and final seasonal special comes to Disney+, themed to fall.