Disney’s The Great Movie Ride used to be the centerpiece of their Hollywood Studios theme park. Over the years, though, its popularity has waned in favor of newer, more ‘exciting’ rides like The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Toy Story Midway Mania. The ultimate low came in 2001 when Disney execs erected a giant Sorcerer’s Hat in front of the ride to sell low-price souvenirs.
Disney and Turner Classic Movies plan to change all that via a new deal wherein TCM will add their name (and a large cash infusion) to the ride. Not only that, but that damned Sorcerer’s Hat is coming down, too!
So how does this tie into animation?
The New York Times reports, “Walt Disney Studios, will provide TCM with vintage movies, cartoons, documentaries and episodes of TV series like Disneyland and Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color for a periodic programming block on the channel under the banner of Treasures From the Disney Vault.
“The block will be offered by TCM ‘roughly four to five times a year,’ said Charlie Tabesh, senior vice president for programming and production of TCM.
“‘Disney films and other programming have been seen a little bit on TCM, but not much,’ he added. ‘It will be exciting to dig into the vault and see classic Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, The Wonderful World of Disney,’ he said.
“The initial block of Disney programming by TCM is to run from 8 p.m., Eastern time, on Dec. 21 through 5:15 a.m. on Dec. 22. ‘It’s a Sunday night,’ Mr. Tabesh said, ‘a perfect family night and getting close to Christmas.’
“Among the nine scheduled items from the Disney archives are Santa’s Workshop, a 1932 cartoon; The Disneyland Story, in which Walt Disney himself describes in 1954 plans for the park named Disneyland that he opened in Anaheim, Calif., the next year; Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, edited from episodes of a Disneyland serial about the frontiersman; and The Vanishing Prairie, a nature documentary.”
Classic Disney cartoons on TV? Sounds great to me!
