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So for any Disney fan, seeing your favourite TV sitcoms head to Walt Disney World has always
been one of those must watch episodes.
The 90s especially were filled with these, and even more recently, some shows have also
filmed at Disneyland.
A common theme that runs between all the series is that they air on ABC & most of them had
a premiere between April and may.
This was probably done to coincide with the start of the summer tourism months at Disney.
Spanning over 3 decades worth of TV shows and in chronological order, today we’re
gonna be counting down 10 TV sitcoms that filmed at the Disney Theme Parks.
Number 10- Full House For the season 6 finale, Full House did a
two part episode titled The House Meets the Mouse which aired on May 11th & 18th of 1993.
This is probably one of the more memorable and iconic Disney World episodes of any TV
sitcom.
I mean who can forget DJ thinking that every male cast member including Indiana Jones,
Prince Charming and Aladdin were her boyfriend Steve.
Funny enough, Scott Wagner, the actor who plays Steve is the voice of Aladdin.
And who could also forget Michelle becoming
Princess for the day, which I’m pretty sure is a completely made up promotion at the park.
Now we’re just gonna assume they had park hopper tickets cause they’re all over the
three theme parks, but you actually get a glimpse of an extinct attraction at MGM Studios.
So Joey takes a tour of the animation production facilities, which used to be part of the backlot
Tour and were also used to animate Disney films.
It’s also really cool seeing two old retro parades: the surprise celebration parade at
Magic Kingdom and Aladdin’s Royal Caravan at Disney MGM studios.
And you can’t forget all those Disney characters to go along with that 90s retro Disney style.
And naturally the episode ends with fireworks.
You’ll come to realize that fireworks are a common conclusion to a lot of the episodes.
Number 9 - Family Matters In season 6, Family Matters also did a two
part episode titled We’re Going To Disney World Part 1 & 2 that aired on April 25th
and May 5th of 1995.
Most of it takes place at Epcot where Erkel is demonstrating his transformation chamber
at Innoventions which actually just opened in Sept of 1994.
This episode was probably created specifically to promote the Innoventions pavilion.
Although most of the episode takes place in Epcot, they do show clips from Disney MGM
Studios and Magic Kingdom, and ride various attractions including Splash Mountain.
You actually see quite a few characters too including Cinderella who helps facilitate
one of the most elaborate proposals ever that would probably never actually happen in real
life.
A couple of extinct attractions also make appearances.
The first being the Streets of America at Disney Hollywood Studios that have now been
demolished to make way for Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge.
Next was the Character Bus which used to make appearances around World Showcase at Epcot,
and that ended around 2005.
The end of the episode actually sheds light on another extinct part of Walt Disney World
That wont be necessary
being the working studio aspect of MGM Studios
Production services for Family Matters provided by Disney MGM Studios in Florida
That slowly faded out through the late 90s.
Now, although the focus is more on the presentation at Epcot, the second episode doesn’t end
with fireworks but the first one did so that kinda counts, right?
Number 8 - Roseanne In season 8, Rosseane had a two part- episode
that aired February 20th & 27th, 1996 titled We’re Going to Disney World & Disney World
It should be noted that 1996 marks the year that Disney fully acquired ABC and you’ll
notice an influx of sitcoms that go to Disney World in 1996; thanks Michael Eisner.
Although this was two parts, they actually don’t get to Disney World until the second
episode when Roseanne says
Park opens in 15 minutes this is not a drill.
So wait: they’re still at the hotel 15 minuets before the park opens and then they manage
to be the first ones at the park ready for rope drop.
Have you seen the morning crowds at Magic Kingdom?
Anyway the family starts in Magic Kingdom but once Dan realizes they don’t serve beer
at the park he ends up running to Epcot.
Now did they get park hoppers or just single day tickets again?
Now quite a few characters make appearances in the episode but I just wanna point out
how there were no crowds around any character.
Shoo Pooh If only it was this easy to meet Disney characters
at the parks.
Now assuming the family has park hopper tickets, they hop, or maybe just sneak back into Epcot
just in time for the episode to end with Illuminations.
Number 7- Step by Step In season 5, Step by Step also did a two episode
that aired on May 3rd & 10th, 1996 called We’re Going to Disney World Part 1 & 2.
The Lambert family takes a family trip to Walt Disney World and because of Mark’s
Book, Jake wants to set the record of doing every ride, show, food & gift shop in Walt
Disney world within four days.
Now thanks to this storyline you get a pretty good look around a lot of Walt Disney World.
And thanks to some Disney magic Mark gets permission to monitor Jake from park headquarters
and apparently Disney has scientists working in their surveillance room.
Either that or cast members from the imagination pavilion at Epcot stopped by.
But Between both episodes you get a look at many rides including the extinct Mr Toad’s
Wild Ride that closed in 1998, and that iconic splash mountain shot.
You can’t forget that splash mountain shot.
You also see quite a few characters but is it just me or does Minnie Mouse look really
tall here, leave a comment below what you think.
Also while they’re on Tower of Terror this bellhop cast member is coincidentally the
same cast member from the family matters episode the year before.
Although it doesn’t end with fireworks, they still make a point to watch Illuminations
at Epcot.
In the end its an entertaining two part episode, filled with action, a creative story and lots
of Disney magic.
Number 6 - Boy Meets World In season 3, Boy Meets World aired an episode
titled The Happiest Show on Earth on the same day as Step by Step’s 2nd episode on May
10th, 1996.
TGIF on ABC, shoutout to anyone who actually remembers that, aired Boy Meets world at 8:30
and then Step by Step at 9:30.
Now unlike Step by Step where the entire episode was in the parks, Boy Meets World only spends
about two thirds of it at Walt Disney World.
Most of the story actually takes place at Epcot, specifically at the living Seas pavilion.
One of the more iconic scenes is when we find out Corey and Shawn spent the night in the
logs on Splash Mountain.
I didn’t get the girl I came for and I slept in a log.
Apparently Magic Kingdom security was off duty this night and coincidentally the morning
crew at splash mountain didn’t notice them either, tested the ride, and the episode got
its iconic splash mountain shot.
Now where do we find a towel.
Now the only two characters that appear in the episode are the beast and goofy but its
ridiculous how they jump from the Magic Kingdom to the American Pavilion at Epcot making it
seem like you could just run there no problem.
Every show portrays this situation of within minutes you can be in a different park but
we all know how long those busses take to get around.
The episode may not have ended with fireworks, but it still has a happy ending with Spaceship
Earth in the background.
Number 5- Sabrina the Teenage Witch In Season 2, Sabrina the Teenage Witch premiered
the episode creatively titled Disney World that aired on April 24th 1998.
It’s ironic that it’s titled Disney World since they only visit Animal Kingdom but clearly
Disney used the episode to promote the opening of the park.
Animal kingdom actually opened only 2 days before this episode aired.
There’s also no real reason why everyone needed to go to Disney World aside from Albert
bewitching the principal into saying: *insert line*
The episode tours the park with a good portion of the story always cutting back to Kilimanjaro
Safaris.
The Hippopotamuses are among the most aggressive animals in the jungle
The episode actually does feature an extinct attraction at the park and thats the Discovery
River Boats which closed in August of 1999 due to low guest satisfaction scores.
But Kilimanjaro Safaris, Discovery River Boats, the Boneyard in Dinoland and the Tree of Life
are the only rides and attractions shown, but Disney does put a lot of emphasis on the
safari.
This is the only Disney episode to not feature a single Disney character whatsoever, and
in all honesty the episode feels a little dry.
I never doubted that for a minute.
Is forgettable and doesn’t live up to that grand Disney World title.
Number 4- George Lopez In season 3, The George Lopez show aired an
episode on April 30th, 2004 titled George Goes to Disneyland, with this being the first
Disneyland episode on the list.
Now with Disneyland episodes, its easier to incorporate going to the park as part of an
organic storyline, since the families already live in California.
The show spends less than half the episode in Disneyland when a shot early on shows Mickey
and Minnie conveniently doing a meet in greet in front of Sleeping Beauty castle, cause
that always happens.
Although the time in Disneyland is so short, they manage to show quite a bit of the park
through the plot of the episode.
They even find time to get that iconic Splash Mountain shot through a little bonding moment
between George and his mom.
It seems like this episode was used to promote New Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
The now extinct Tower of Terror opened at Disney California Adventure on May 5th, 2004
and this episode aired 5 days before the grand opening of the attraction, so they made sure
to get this I hear its a 13 story drop
as well as ride footage, into the episode.
Overall the episode has a lot of heart and it’s great to see Disneyland getting some
love in the TV sitcom world.
Number 3- Modern Family In season 3, Modern Family also headed to
Disneyland in an episode creatively titled Disneyland that aired on May 9th, 2012.
Since the families also live in California, this visit to the park fit perfectly with
the plot and its one of the least Disney commercial episodes out of all of them.
You get to see them walk all through Disneyland, going on Big Thunder Mountain, Dumbo, Great
moments with Mr. Lincoln and you cant forget that Splash Mountain shot.
You do get to see some rare characters actually.
Robin Hood appears with Little John, who actually is depicted in an very rare situation.
So we all know that fur characters at the Disney parks can’t speak but here we have
Hayley having a conversation with her ex boyfriend Dylan who’s performing as little John.
It’s really surprising that ABC and Disney gave the green light to broadcast this scenario
on television since character integrity is a big part of the company.
Aside from that, the episode is just an enjoyable and hilarious look at a family at Disneyland
without it being a Disneyland commercial.
Number 2- The Middle In the season 5 finale,The Middle aired a
two part episode on May 21st 2014 titled The Wonderful World of Hecks.
Now although its a two part finale, they’re only at The Magic Kingdom for the last 50
seconds of the first episode.
Now the Hecks arrive at Magic Kingdom to find out from a cast member that their park tickets
are for Disneyland and they’re at the wrong park.
Thats okay.
Now for the non Disney fan I could see mixing up Disneyland and Disney World in conversation,
but to not check the tickets when you’ve been planning a trip for over 20 days is a
little far fetched, but okay.
The family spends the majority of their time in Magic Kingdom, and you see a few attractions
but they never actually get on any of them because, well they have the worst luck ever
and its TV.
And it was never mentioned that they had park hopper tickets but lets hope they did cause
Frankie and Mike find themselves having dinner in the France Pavilion at Epcot.
Actually if you ever wanted to eat right here on a normal day at Epcot, you probably wouldn’t
be able to since its not an actual restaurant.
Now while the kids are still at the Magic Kingdom they finally manage to get on a ride
and get that iconic splash mountain shot.
Then using their non park hopper tickets, the kids all managed to get into Epcot and
the episode ends with what other than the fireworks from Illuminations.
Number 1- Black-ish In the season 3 premiere, Black-ish was the
first sitcom to air their episode at the beginning of the season.
The episode titled VIP aired On Sept 21st, 2016 and its a much different Disney experience
than we’ve seen in other Disney episodes.
So the Johnson’s make sure their kids are able to experience a VIP trip at Walt Disney
World with a VIP tour guide, or a plaid like they’re sometimes referred to.
They park hop between Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Epcot, getting the kids to the
front of all the line on a variety of rides but again they make it seem like you can get
from park to park within minutes.
Now at one point Rainbow and the grandparents go to line up for whats supposed to be Soarin
but last time I checked, Soarin’s queue is all inside the Land Pavilion.
This is….i don’t even know what this is.
And even if you were the grand marshal of the parade, since when are guests allowed
to sit on the Movie it!
Shake it!
Celebrate it!
Street party floats while they head down to the hub?
Try that on your next visit to the park.
Aside from the inconsistencies, it’s a fun episode and like many of the others, one of
the last shots is of the fireworks.
So whats your favourite TV series thats gone to Disney world or Disneyland?
Are you more of a retro 90s fan, or do you prefer the modern sitcoms?
And have you noticed any other inconsistencies in the episodes?
Leave a comment below and start a conversation.
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