Welcome to Extinct Attractions. This week, we’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving and being with family (safely) by looking at some of the most family-friendly attractions at the parks.
Via The Happiest Blog on Earth
Disneyland doesn’t really celebrate for Thanksgiving because of the flow between Halloween and Christmas, two decidedly larger holidays. It makes sense, but I love Thanksgiving and don’t really start celebrating Christmas until after the late November day. What makes the holiday so special to me is that I get to spend the day with family and experience all of the traditions that go along with it.
Via Country Living
Bear in the Big Blue House first hit the airwaves on October 20, 1997 and quickly became one of the most popular Disney Channel shows. I remember watching it all the time as a kid, loving the puppets and Bear (but always being a bit scared of Luna, the moon).
With the show doing well, Disney realized that they were lacking family-friendly entertainment in Disney-MGM Studios, with two of the three park’s bigger additions (Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster) in the mid to late 90s not being attractions that families with younger children could enjoy. To remedy the issue, Bear in the Big Blue House – Live on Stage debuted on June 7, 1999 in the Animation Courtyard.
I only went to Disney World once when the show was there and I was very young, but some memories definitely came flooding back watching this show for this week’s blog. I may be conflating some of those memories with the show’s successor, but I’m sure that little me loved the show since I could not get enough of the television show as a kid.
Bear in the Big Blue House – Live on Stage wasn’t just fun for kids, either as I was actually really impressed with the production value of the show watching it now. It was a clever idea to combine puppets with walkaround characters, just like in the television show. Plus, there were a lot of songs that kept kids entertained, while also teaching some nice morals about acceptance and finding oneself.
But of course, the highlight of the show was getting to dance along with Bear to the “Bear Cha Cha Cha.” The experience started a trend in future iterations of the show where dancing became a key element of the show because let’s face it, what little kid doesn’t want to jump and dance around?
After a few years, Bear in the Big Blue House – Live on Stage closed on August 4, 2001, so that Bear could welcome in some new friends to the gang.
Via D23
Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage opened in Disney-MGM Studios on October 1, 2001, while characters from Rolie Polie, Olie; Stanley and The Book of Pooh also joined in on the fun. Most of these characters were also controlled by puppeteers so at one point there were three different shows with a large amount of puppets at Walt Disney World (including The Voyage of the Little Mermaid and The Legend of the Lion King), keeping puppeteers in the Orlando area very happy.
The show was very similar in structure to its predecessor, with a lot of focus on songs and dancing, as well as a human “host” to keep moving things along. The show worked to impart lessons on youngsters about friendship and caring for others.
I also saw this show as a kid, but by the time my memories of it start to kick in, I was a bit old for the show, so they weren’t as fond as I’d be forced to see it every once in a while for my little brothers. However, I maybe only saw this show once in Florida because by that point, a version of the show has opened across the country at Disney’s California Adventure.
When California Adventure first opened, there was a restaurant called ABC Soap Opera Bistro in Hollywood Pictures Backlot, where there were recreations of some of the sets from ABC soap operas (who’d’ve guessed?). The restaurant was not very popular, so with California Adventure really struggling in those early years, the decision was made to gut the restaurant and put in a version of Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage. The show opened April 11, 2003 and immediately helped provide more activities for families in a park devoid of those experiences at the beginning. After a few years, they made a slight change to the show, replacing Rolie, Polie, Olie with Jojo’s Circus, just to keep things up to date.
In 2008, the shows experienced complete re-imaginings with all of the television shows previously represented being replaced by new Playhouse Disney shows in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins and My Friends Tigger & Pooh.
Meanwhile, the success in these parks led to the decision to open one more version of the show at Walt Disney Studios Paris on April 4, 2009, replacing Walt Disney TV Tour: CyberSpace Mountain.
For the next few years, the show remained relatively unchanged until January of 2011 when the California Adventure show closed on the 11th and Hollywood Studios on the 30th to change into Disney Junior – Live on Stage because Playhouse Disney was being rebranded as Disney Junior.
The shows reopened on March 25, 2011 and March 27, 2011 in California Adventure and Hollywood Studios, respectively, with characters from Jake and the Never Land Pirates replacing My Friends Tigger & Pooh. From there, the shows remained unchanged for a few years until 2013 when Sofia the First and Doc McStuffins kicked Handy Manny and Little Einsteins to the curb, keeping Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as the only original show to remain. Interestingly, these changes only affected the American versions as the Parisian version remained pretty much the same from opening to close, only changing its name over the years.
All of the versions of the show were pretty constant in their approach of utilizing puppets to bring the characters from the shows to life, with a steady dose of songs, dancing and morals. Overall, it was a winning formula for families with little kids who just wanted to see their favorite characters as often as possible. Eventually, Disney decided to reimagine the concept again though, with the shows closing in California Adventure on April 9, 2017; Hollywood Studios on September 2, 2018; and Walt Disney Studios Park on April1, 2019. Luckily, shows that serve the same purpose took their place with Disney Junior Dance Party now residing in the American parks and Disney Junior Dream Factory set to open sometime next year in Paris.
The shows may not have appealed to older audiences, but they served their roles well, entertaining millions of children and giving parents a break that they needed in the middle of the day, and for that, I commend them.
Well, that’s all for this week, but here are your clues for next week.
- This show had a brief late 1980s run at the Videopolis Theater.
- This show commemorated the golden anniversary of a Disney film.
- This show was taped and appeared on Disney Channel.
Via Mama's Geeky
As always, don’t forget to check out my interactive maps of the Disney Parks throughout the years where you can watch or learn more about all the attractions from the domestic parks.
Thanks for reading and have a magical and safe Thanksgiving!