Along with ground-breaking attractions and food that will leave you salivating for more, Walt Disney World has long been home to some of the most entertaining shows and live performances in the world. Performances like Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo: The Big Blue…And Beyond!, Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, or The Country Bear Jamboree, combine innovation, memorable music, and incredible set design that sweep you up into their magical world.
Over the years, many shows have come and gone. In this week’s podcast, we discuss some of our favorite Disney shows of all time, so we thought we’d take a moment to look back at a few that are gone, but not forgotten.
The Goosebumps HorrorLand Fright Show
If you were a kid in the 90s, chances are that you had your socks scared off by the Goosebumps books by R.L. Stine. The wildly successful series introduced a whole generation of young readers to horror, starting with the publication of “Welcome to Dead House” (Goosebumps #1) in 1992. Over 400 million books in the series have been sold, and during its peak popularity, it sold over 4 million books a month.
This enormous success led to the creation of a television show that debuted in 1995, bringing the novels to the small screen. Two years later, The Goosebumps HorrorLand Fright Show debuted at the Disney-MGM Studios (now Hollywood Studios).
The show featured Amaz-O the Magician from the 1996 novel “Bad Hare Day,” along with the characters Slappy (from “Night of the Living Dummy”), Curly the Skeleton (the one-time mascot of the series), Prince Khor-Ru (from “Return of the Mummy”), The Lord High Executioner (from “A Night In Terror Tower”), a pair of Haunted Masks (from “The Haunted Mask” and “The Haunted Mask II”), and a monstrous hamster named Cuddles (from “Monster Blood II”).
Sadly, for fans of the spooky (but not TOO spooky), the show only lasted for about a year.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
In 1984, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird introduced the world to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The franchise began as a surprisingly gritty comic book series that was something of a parody of existing superhero comics. However, quick popularity led to a line of toys from Playmates Toys and an animated series that debuted in 1987.
In 1990, the Turtles were starring in their first movie, which featured costume designs by the incomparable Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. A few months after the release of the film, the pizza-loving heroes were appearing in Disney-MGM Studios along with their friend April O’Neil.
Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael would arrive on the Streets of America in their Turtle Van, before stopping at the TMNT stage. April would sing the group’s theme song while the Turtles struck various action poses. When they were finished boogying, they’d come off the stage for meet-and-greets.
Though largely forgotten today, the Ninja Turtles show ran at the park for five years, until being replaced by the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (a fact that I’m still slightly bitter about).
Kitchen Kabaret
While we’re on the subject of things I’m still not over losing, Kitchen Kabaret was a key part of the Epcot experience from its opening day until 1994 (when it was replaced by the slightly less successful, but still charming Food Rocks).
Located in the Land Pavilion, the show was intended to help promote the habits of healthy eating. And what better way to do that than to hear from singing, joke-cracking, anthropomorphic versions of the foods you were supposed to eat? It’s always easier to eat something when it has a name and personality attached to it, right?
Hosted by Bonnie Appetite, the show featured characters like the Kitchen Krackpots (consisting of a variety of condiments), The Cereal Sisters (Oats, Rice, and Corn who performed in the style of the Andrews Sisters), Hamm & Eggz (a vaudeville-style comedy routine), and others.
Today, the show is best remembered for giving us the endlessly singable “Veggie, Veggie, Fruit, Fruit,” a snappy, Latin-style number that smacks of Carmen Miranda. Lyrics for the song were provided by Scott Hennessy, with music by Buddy Baker, who also wrote the music for “Grim Grinning Ghosts,” along with the scores for a number of Disney films. The song was later featured in the show Epcot Forever.
Give it one listen and you’ll be humming it for the next week.
Mickey Mouse Revue
Long before Mickey’s PhilharMagic, even further back in time than Legend of the Lion King or Magic Journeys (well…in its Magic Kingdom location), there was the Mickey Mouse Revue. Located in Fantasyland, the show was an opening day attraction at Walt Disney World.
The premise was fairly simple. Mickey Mouse was a conductor, leading an orchestra made up of various Disney characters. The cast consisted of Audio-Animatronics who performed popular Disney songs.
The roots of the show date back to the early 1960s. At the time, Walt gave an interview explaining, “I have in mind a theater and the figures will not only put on the show but be sitting in the boxes with the visitors, heckling. I don’t know just when I’ll do that.”
While the final product did not have hecklers (that would have to wait until Muppet-Vision 3D) it did have a whopping 81 Animatronic figures on a 35-foot stage.
The show closed in 1980, with the figures being moved to Tokyo Disneyland for its 1983 opening. However, in 2015, three of the figures made their way back to Walt Disney World and can now be seen in Epcot. Donald, Panchito, and José (the Three Caballeros) were placed at the end of the Gran Fiesta Tour in the Mexico Pavilion.
The Diamond Horseshoe Revue
When Disneyland opened in 1955, it featured a rootin’-tootin’ western variety show known as the Golden Horseshoe Revue. The performance featured the brilliant Betty Taylor, Donald Novis (later replaced by Fulton Burley), and Wally Boag. The show was a huge success and was eventually cited in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the greatest number of performances for any theatrical presentation.
When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, Wally Boag brought the show to the Magic Kingdom in the form of the Diamond Horseshoe Revue. Described as, “a rollicking stage show right out of the Old West featuring a cast of dancing girls, comedians, and singers including Slue Foot Sue herself,” the show included music, dancing, and the comedy of Boag (which included his marvelous Boagalloon balloon animals).
Though Boag only stayed at the Diamond Horseshoe for three years before returning to Disneyland, the show remained until 1986, when it was rebranded as the Diamond Horseshoe Jamboree.
Something for Everyone
Of course, that’s just a small look at some of the brilliant entertainment that has come and gone from the parks over the years. Whether you’re looking for laughs, thrills, or romance, the parks always seem to provide a little something for everyone, and though it’s always bittersweet to see an old favorite leave, it’s exciting to see what comes next.
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