About the Author

My first visit to Walt Disney World was in the late 1980’s during a medical conference I attended in Orlando. After the lectures and workshops each day, I ventured into the parks. Not an amusement park fan, I expected only minor, whimsical enjoyment. What I experienced was much more: a magical, fantastic awakening. I was hooked!

For the next few years, I traveled to WDW from my home in Oklahoma and later Texas as often as I could manage. I read every book I could find about WDW and began offering touring advice to friends and family. It’s not a stretch to figure out that I eventually wanted to move to central Florida! My usual job is emergency physician, and I landed a position near Orlando in 1998.

I’d been an academic medical professor in Oklahoma for 11 years, and I enjoy writing and research. What's more fun than researching WDW? So I wrote a book, “The Hassle-Free Walt Disney World Vacation” (The Intrepid Traveler Publishers), that contains customized touring plans for Disney nuts like me. I update this book every year since it was first published in 2001.

I’ve long had a fascination with Hidden Mickeys. I learned about them in the mid 1990’s, probably from a Disney cast member in the parks. Here’s the definition of an official Hidden Mickey: a partial or complete impression of Mickey Mouse placed by the Imagineers and artists to blend into the designs of Disney attractions, hotels, restaurants, and other areas.

My HM fascination grew to fervor as I immersed myself into researching the little gems in 2002. I decided to write about Hidden Mickeys that I could find and that I expect others could find as well, with help from Clues (sketchy descriptions for a challenge) and Hints (more complete descriptions if you need help) for each HM. The Hidden Mickeys book was a natural follow-up to the Hassle-Free Guide, since the touring plans I developed for the attractions were easily transformed into efficient Hidden Mickey scavenger hunts.

I accumulate potential HM sightings from the internet and from official Disney material (such as the Disney Magazine). I try to spot new HM’s whenever I’m at WDW, either by myself or with family or friends. My neighbors, friends, son, and sister have all discovered new HM’s. I ask cast members frequently about HM’s in their areas (they don’t always know!). I often ride attractions many times to verify the sightings (it took many runs through the Jungle Cruise in the Magic Kingdom for me to accept the HM chipped out of the brick toward the end of the dark temple section).

Currently, Disney doesn’t validate what I publish. The official Disney HM list is sketchy and incomplete. Hidden Mickey lore filters up from the public, with Disney participating benevolently from the sidelines. The placement and cataloguing of HM’s is not an exact science, so some latitude (and confusion) exists. For example, some cast members in the Haunted Mansion and on the Magic Kingdom Backstage Tours have claimed for years that the HM plate and saucers on the ghostly banquet table is not “official”, that the Imagineers’ original design for the table settings did not include this HM, and that cast members place it there whenever they feel the urge (which is almost always, thank goodness). But there it is on the “official” Disney HM list! The bottom line is that Disney probably didn’t predict the surge of interest in HM’s and so didn’t apply its considerable prowess to define and catalogue the little gems. However, Disney benefits from the sport because it brings more interest (and more people) to WDW. So Disney gently encourages our interest in HM’s, and I appreciate the absence of Disney heavy-handedness in this wonderful game.

I researched and wrote the “Hidden Mickeys” book over a seven month period in early 2002. “Hidden Mickeys, A Field Guide to Walt Disney World’s Best Kept Secrets” (The Intrepid Traveler Publishers), came out in 2003, and the second edition will appear in 2005.

Since I moved to Orlando in 1998, I visit WDW at least three times monthly. I would go more, but I spend much time at home writing and updating my books. You might say that if I’m not at work at my “real” job, then I’m probably enjoying Disney in some way!

Steven M. Barrett

I'm the guy on the right