Mickey Mouse Short: YodelBerg

Season 1, Episode 2: “Yodelberg” 6/29/13
Starring: Mickey Mouse
Co-Starring: Minnie Mouse and Harold the Yeti
Setting: The Swiss Alps

Plot:
Mickey exits his Swiss chalet to hear Minnie love-yodeling for him to come hither from her very own chalet atop a snowy peak.   However, the snow is unsettled and any sound could trigger an avalanche. 

Mickey traverses up the mountain through a forest of Cuckoo Clocks and past a Root Beer Garden with a giant belching pig.  Mickey manages to trap the burp in the pig’s stein but in releasing the sound, he awakens Harold the Yeti who is none too pleased. Mickey leads Harold on a high speed chase across the Alps in which he makes skis out of bark while the Yeti makes a snowboard from an entire tree.  Mickey then evades Harold by falling off a cliff wherein he luckily lands on the doorstep of Minnie’s chalet.  Harold would also fall off the cliff too, only be covered with a massive avalanche moments later.

This same avalanche brings the sun and ushers in spring – leading to Mickey and Minnie to engage in a big, wet smooch!

Short Stuff:
That catchy tune along with the yodeling is the Swisskapolka which was known to delight guests at Disneyland’s Swiss Family Robinson’s Treehouse (’62-’99).  The Treehouse has since morphed into Tarzan’s Treehouse (’99-present).

Mickey and Minnie are playing a part here where they are both singing Swiss (?), wearing lederhosen and Minnie even has blonde ears!

I absolutely LOVE the art here which seem to be heavily influenced by Disney Legend, Mary Blair – especially the multi-coloured chalets and Cuckoo Clocks. 

 Fritzy’s Corn Chips look to be a German import.

There’s something delightfully eerie and haunting about the Cuckoo Clock forest.  The synchronization of the ticking along with the manic cuckoo’ing is really creepy (in a good way!).

Yup, that’s Root Beer they’re chugging – check out the keg!

More gross-out gags with the morbidly obese, belching pig.

I got legitimately excited when I saw the Matterhorn and then Harold the Yeti!  Sure, Harold isn’t actually on the Matterhorn but he’s in the same mountain range and even has a few wrecked bobsleds to really hammer the reference home. 

Harold looks to have 21 kills (?) based on the tallies on his cave wall.

I especially appreciate the Disneyland-based creation of placing the Himalayan Yeti in the Swiss Alps! 

More gross-out gags: Harold’s bosoms are especially bosomy and his prominent nipples very nipply.

Very cool how they mix in some live-action footage with the final avalanche scene.

Not bad for a dialogue-less, yodel-heavy short!

Final Grade: A+
This episode is just so above-and-beyond creative – from the yodeling, to the no dialogue, to the animation, it just really stands out.  The visuals of the motley chalets and the eerie tone of the cuckoo clocks just stick with me for some reason.  And, any time you can add a character like Harold and details like the wrecked bobsleds, the Disneyland geek in me just swoons!