I've seen the show twice, first in october 2002 and then again in april 2004. It's a beautiful show, very very unique and with some superb music and puppetry - even though you know they're puppets it's still possible to be totally drawn into it! I especially like the puppet version of Donald they have, the way they get him to dance is so cool - did you know that apparently it takes 4 people to control just that one puppet?!
Have said that though, when they changed the show in late 2002 they did make it so less puppeteers are needed. Personally I didn't see much of a difference - I think they actually improved the show with those changes since the new Little Mermaid scene is far better than the old Monstro (Pinocchio) one. I'm not sure if you saw that one, but it was basically just Donald and characters from Pinocchio on the raft in the film and then a large projection of Monstro appeared behind them. The new Little Mermaid section with "Under the Sea" is much more lively and provides an extra chance for the puppeteers to show off their skills - the way they control flounder is so realistic! They've got the movements of a fish completely perfected!
I know some people don't like seeing the show more than once, and for some it's just not their kind of thing, but overall I think it's an important part of the studios. It's very European and very unique to our park. In the future I can see PhilharMagic being added to WDS (perhaps with updated visuals since it would be in many years' time), whilst the stage could be used for a large stage musical show like Legend of the Lion King... Whilst this would be quite good, I think Animagique deserves to stay in the park at least until 2007, and perhaps even till 2012. They should definately change the scenes every few years though. Adding in Little Mermaid was good because it gave guests something different to see - it'd be nice if they did that again in a few years but perhaps added, rather than replaced, a scene - the show always seems VERY short to me...
What does everyone else think of the show?
btw, yes the Pink Elephants ROCK!!! They SO need to sell plushes of them! Thinking about it, wouldn't a shop at the exit of Animagique be a cool idea? They could make some awesome exclusive merchandise for that show... (so long as they put more effort into it than they did with the LOTLK and SM:M2 merchandise).
