My kids and I were walking to school this morning, and we somehow or other got on the topic of old Disney Channel cartoons, and shows that they used to watch every morning during Playhouse Disney (now Disney Junior). Many were the mornings (since I'm a Stay-At-Home-Dad) where we would cuddle up in blankets on the floor and watch such greats as 'Rolie Polie Olie', 'Out of the Box', 'Stanley', 'JoJo's Circus', and the words "Fruit Salad" (yummy yummy) still make me break out in cold sweats. It was funny though, that the further back we went the less they were able to remember about the shows, and these were shows they watched every day.
Being the little Playhouse Disney addicts that they were, one of their favorite places to stop at Disneyland was inside Disney California Adventure Park, at the Playhouse Disney theater, in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot. Now the home of the Disney Junior show, the theater (before they got too big to want to go anymore) was the home to a live action/puppet show highlighting many of the favorite shows at that time that were showing on the Disney Channel each and every day. It only made sense that they would gravitate towards it and want to go each and every time we went to The Park. My wife and I have loads of memories of sitting on the floor in the theater with our two oldest watching their faces light up as they laughed, clapped, and yelled along with their favorite characters from their favorite shows. Things seemed so much simpler back then, and it was a jolt to me with the realization of how big they are getting now, but it also it brings a smile to my face even to this day when I go back and think about, and look at, some of those memories.
"Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Big Blue House..."
JoJo's Circus
Stanley
Winnie the Pooh
And although it was never a part of the Playhouse Disney show (at least, not that I can recall), no memories of those days would be complete without a little 'PB&J Otter'. Although the boys tell me they don't remember this show at all, Daddy remembers it, and we watched it a lot. It's always good to go back and remember things, isn't it?
