Since the 1950s, Disney characters have appeared on various live shows. Disney characters started to appear in parts of Ice Capades shows in the 1950s (1). Later on, in the 1970s, there was Disney on Parade that toured different arenas around the country and a smaller show, called Disco Disney toured malls in 1979 (2). In the 80s, Walt Disney’s World on Ice premiered (renamed to Disney on Ice in the 90s) (3). It was in the 90s and 2000s that Disney started to escalate the amount of live shows that were based on Disney properties.
It is in the 2000s that we find a smaller production that toured malls in 2000 and 2001, Playhouse Disney - Live! This is not to be confused with Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage! which opened in Walt Disney World in 2001, and in Disneyland shortly after (4). Adding to the confusion is another show called Playhouse Disney Live! on Tour, a touring show in the mid-2000s (5).
To recap, there are three Playhouse Disney Live shows:
- Playhouse Disney - Live! (2000 & 2001) - A smaller production that toured malls around the United States
- Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage! (2001)- A stage show at the parks opening in 2001, which were then replaced with shows under the Disney Jr. branding
- Playhouse Disney Live! on Tour (2007) - A touring show that played at larger venues
All of these shows feature characters that came from the Playhouse Disney programming block on The Disney Channel. It is the first show that toured malls in 2000 and 2001 that is the most interesting and least remembered.
These shows were hosted by Tony and Vivian from Out of the Box and featured 15-minute segments that included singing, dancing, and story-telling performances by other Playhouse Disney characters. These segments included characters from the shows PB&J Otter, Rolie Polie Olie, and Bear in the Big Blue House. In between showtimes, there were craft sessions for kids. These events were free and guests were asked to bring books to donate as a part of what was called “Rolie Polie Olie’s Book Round-Up” (6).
The 2000 tour was popular enough that Disney decided to bring it back the next year in 2001. Many of the aspects of the show remained the same. They were still free and included singing, dancing, and story-telling performances by characters from PB&J Otter, Rolie Polie Olie, and Bear in the Big Blue House. Changes were made as well. The segments were expanded from 15 minutes to 20 minutes. More significantly, additional characters from the shows Stanley and The Book of Pooh were included in the segments. The book donation drive’s name was also changed to “The Book of Pooh Hunny Pot Drop” (7).
To best understand audience reaction and how big these events were, we can look towards a review for the 2001 tour by Mary McNamara in The Los Angeles Times. In this article, she describes her experience bringing her kids to the tour stop at the Glendale Galleria. She describes that 40 minutes before the show was set to begin, she “could hear the roar of the crowd from the mall-equivalent from three blocks away.” She goes on to describe the craziness and anxiety that crowd created for her but also said that once the show started, “it all seemed worth it” (8).
With huge crowds also comes arguments and high emotions. McNamara described how a man was yelling at a security guard, as well as an argument among two women over a saved seat in which security had to intervene. She went on to say how it was obvious these arguments were happening throughout the crowd. These situations were perfectly described by McNamara as “adults who thought nothing of having a tantrum or two in front of thousands of children just because they were a bit hot and overwhelmed” (9).
With these huge crowds and the adult tantrums in mind, she goes on to say that the mall as a venue was probably not the best option considering they were free shows with highly popular characters. She said there were approximately 3,000 people there on the day she went. She also said that other locations in the tour had weekend attendance of about 20,000 people (10).
While the Playhouse Disney - Live! mall shows did not last long, they did show the power of the Disney brand. Even smaller productions like these shows drew massive turn outs. However, it also showed how these massive turnouts could spoil the moment for people if the venue was not the right fit as we saw in the 2001 review above. Below, I have the complete listing of the city stops for both tours, and if I could find it, the mall location they were at.
A note on these lists. Most of the locations come from TV commercials promoting the tours. This can create a discrepancy on the show location and where the mall actually is, for example the 2000 Chicago stop is actually in Orland Park, a Chicago suburb. I opted to use the city name that the commercials used. No mall listed means I could not find evidence for it beyond that commercial. The complete bibliography for these lists are below.
3/24-3/26: Bloomington (Mall of America)
3/31-4/2: St. Louis (Chesterfield Mall)
4/14-4/16: Chicago (Orland Square)
4/20-4/22: Philadelphia (Oxford Valley Mall)
4/28-4/30: Boston (Natwick Mall)
5/5-5/7: Washington DC
5/12-5/14: Orlando (Altamonte Mall)
5/19-5/21: San Francisco (Solano Mall)*
5/25-5/28: Los Angeles
6/2-6/4: Las Vegas
*This mall is an hour away from San Francisco but a Sacramento Bee ad does state that there was a Playhouse Disney - Live! there on May, 21 2000 and it’s closer to San Francisco than Los Angeles.
9/7-9/9 : Cleveland (Tower City Center)
9/14-9/16 - Detroit (Somerset Collection)**
9/21-9/23 - Pittsburgh (Monroeville Mall)
9/28-9/30: Miami (Aventura Mall)
10/5-10/7 - Tampa (Citrus Park Town Center)
10/12-10/14 - Atlanta (North Point Mall)
10/19-10/21 - Los Angeles (Glendale Galleria)
10/26-10/28 - Sacramento (Galleria at Roseville)
11/2-11/4 - Phoenix (Superstition Spring Center)
11/9-11/11 - Seattle (Bellevue Square)
**The news article I found for this stop says that it was “postponed” but I could not find any evidence of rescheduling.
1. Dave Smith, “World on Ice,” in Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia, 5th ed., (Disney Editions, 2016), 837.
2. Dave Smith, “Disney on Parade,” in Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia, 5th ed., (Disney Editions, 2016), 198.; “Mickey to Disco at Willowbrook,” The Herald-News (Passaic, New Jersey), May 16, 1979, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-news-mickey-to-disco-at-will/191496291/.; Disco Disney, “Disco with Mickey,” The Houston Post, August 1, 1979, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-houston-post-disco-with-mickey-alm/191496117/.
3. Smith, “World on Ice,” 837.
4. Dave Smith, “Playhouse Disney–Live on Stage!” in Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia, 5th ed., (Disney Editions, 2016), 598.
5. Dave Smith, “Playhouse Disney Live! On Tour,” in Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia, 5th ed., (Disney Editions, 2016), 598.
6. Jeff Economy, “Disney on Stage,” Chicago Tribune, April 14, 2000, https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-disney-on-stage-orland/192169923/.; “Playhouse Disney Live at Chesterfield,” The Daily Journal (Flat River, Missouri), March 23, 2000, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-journal-playhouse-disney-live/192169640/.; “Playhouse Disney's Live On Tour Promo (2000),” posted June 12, 2018, by Lakeside Quality Home Health Care, YouTube, 1 min., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnxld7_dlXA.
7. Mike O’Neil, “Out of the Box, Onto the Stage,” The Tampa Tribune, October 5, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tampa-tribune-playhouse-disney-live/192170591/.; Mitchell Vantrease, “Disney Comes Out to Play,” Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona), November 1, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-republic-disney-comes-out-to-pl/192172378/.; “Playhouse Disney Live Mall Tour Promo (2001),” posted January 31, 2020, by CDCB2, YouTube, 59 secs., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0RjQV4QZHo.
8. Mary McNamara, “Malled by Disney in the Wilds of the Glendale Galleria,” The Los Angeles Times, November 4, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-malled-by-disney/192172570/.
9. McNamara, “Malled by Disney.”
10. McNamara, “Malled by Disney.”
Main Bibliography
“Disco with Mickey.” The Houston Post, August 1, 1979, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-houston-post-disco-with-mickey-alm/191496117/.
Economy, Jeff. “Disney on Stage.” Chicago Tribune, April 14, 2000, https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-disney-on-stage-orland/192169923/.
McNamara, Mary. “Malled by Disney in the Wilds of the Glendale Galleria.” The Los Angeles Times, November 4, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-malled-by-disney/192172570/.
“Mickey to Disco at Willowbrook,” The Herald-News (Passaic, New Jersey), May 16, 1979, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-news-mickey-to-disco-at-will/191496291/.
O’Neil, Mike. “Out of the Box, Onto the Stage.” The Tampa Tribune, October 5, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tampa-tribune-playhouse-disney-live/192170591/.
“Playhouse Disney Live at Chesterfield.” The Daily Journal (Flat River, Missouri), March 23, 2000, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-journal-playhouse-disney-live/192169640/.
“Playhouse Disney Live Mall Tour Promo (2001).” Posted January 31, 2020, by CDCB2. YouTube. 59 secs., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0RjQV4QZHo.
“Playhouse Disney's Live On Tour Promo (2000).” Posted June 12, 2018, by Lakeside Quality Home Health Care. YouTube. 1 min., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnxld7_dlXA.
Smith, Dave. “Disney on Parade.” In Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia. 5th ed., Disney Editions, 2016.
———. “Playhouse Disney–Live on Stage!” In Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia. 5th ed., Disney Editions, 2016.
———. “Playhouse Disney–Live! On Tour!” In Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia. 5th ed., Disney Editions, 2016.
———. “World on Ice.” In Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia. 5th ed., Disney Editions, 2016.
Vantrease, Mitchell. “Disney Comes Out to Play.” Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona), November 1, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-republic-disney-comes-out-to-pl/192172378/.
2000 Tour Bibliography
“Disney Comes to Life.” Leader-Telegram, March 16, 2000, https://www.newspapers.com/article/leader-telegram-disney-comes-to-life-p/192169520/.
“Disney Live.” The Sacramento Bee, May 19, 2000, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sacramento-bee-disney-live-the-sac/192359702/.
Economy, Jeff. “Disney on Stage.” Chicago Tribune, April 14, 2000, https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-disney-on-stage-orland/192169923/.
McCabe, Bruce. “Family Datebook.” The Boston Globe, April 29, 2000, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-playhouse-live-at-natic/192170149/.
“Playhouse Comes Alive.” The News-Journal (Daytona Beach, Florida), May 6, 2000, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daytona-beach-news-journal-playhous/192357456/.
“Playhouse Disney Live at Chesterfield.” The Daily Journal (Flat River, Missouri), March 23, 2000, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-journal-playhouse-disney-live/192169640/.
“Playhouse Disney's Live On Tour Promo (2000).” Posted June 12, 2018, by Lakeside Quality Home Health Care. YouTube. 1 min., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnxld7_dlXA.
Sodowick, Melissa. “Disney Characters Come to Life.” The Times (Trenton, New Jersey), April 21, 2000, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-disney-characters-come-to-lif/192170030/.
2001 Tour Bibliography
“Bear, Pooh and Olie, Too, on View in Bellevue.” The Daily Herald (Everett, Washington), November 10, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-herald-playhouse-live-bellevue/192172781/.
“Come Out and Play.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 19, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-playhouse-live-a/192170469/.
“Family Activities.” The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), August 31, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-plain-dealer-playhouse-live-tower-c/192170233/.
O’Neil, Mike. “Out of the Box, Onto the Stage.” The Tampa Tribune, October 5, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tampa-tribune-playhouse-disney-live/192170591/.
“Playhouse Disney-Live!” Detroit Free Press, September 16, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/detroit-free-press-playhouse-live-postpo/192170398/.
“Playhouse Disney-Live!” The Los Angeles Times, October 18, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-playhouse-live-gle/192172028/.
“Playhouse Disney Live!” The Atlanta Constitution, October 6, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-constitution-playhouse-live/192171839/.
“Playhouse Disney Live!” The Miami Herald, September 13, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-miami-herald-playhouse-disney-live/192170305/.
“Playhouse Disney Live.” The Sacramento Bee, October 26, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sacramento-bee-playhouse-live-galler/192172093/.
“Playhouse Disney Live Mall Tour Promo (2001).” Posted January 31, 2020, by CDCB2. YouTube. 59 secs., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0RjQV4QZHo.
Vantrease, Mitchell. “Disney Comes Out to Play.” Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona), November 1, 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-republic-disney-comes-out-to-pl/192172378/.