Review: 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse' goes for the gold!
Posted Monday, May 23, 2016 at 9:41 PM Central
Last updated Tuesday, May 24, 2016 at 9:05 AM Central
by John Couture
If you are a parent of children whose ages falls somewhere between 2 and 12, then I don't need to tell you about Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I often quip that while my kids tend to watch the same things over and over again, at least I'm lucky they are too young and missed the boat on some of the worst child entertainment imaginable like The Teletubbies and Barney.
Actually, I've had it pretty good all things considered. When we were kids, the only TV programming that we got was usually just the Saturday morning block of cartoons, with perhaps an occasional "after-school special" thrown in for fun. These days, kids are spoiled with not only about 10 channels specifically geared for them, but the advent of DVRs means that there are episodes waiting for them whenever they want.
Who am I kidding? This sort of entertainment at their fingertips mostly keeps our sanity in check as parents. However, with DVR storage limits and having to share the space with everyone else in the family, it's always good to have a nice collection of DVDs, just in case - not to mention to tie the little ones over during long road trips.
It was during such a road trip last week that I was able to entertain my two and four-year-old for just over two hours. When you're looking at a 10-hour trip, two hours of peace and quiet can make all of the difference in the world.
The first thing that the kids noticed was the real Golden Mickey Medal. Unlike other premiums with other titles that are usually cheap plastic and fall apart in minutes, this medal was actually made out of metal and seemed sturdy enough to stand up to even the most destructive kids.
Also, the high quality of the medal elevated the status of it in the eyes of my kids and they took turns wearing it for the duration of the trip. Something as simple as a value add can really make a big difference when dealing with this product's target demographic.
As for the DVD itself, it contains six episodes without the usual commercial interruption. Again, with the attention span of kids, not having to sit through breaks really helps to keep them engaged throughout the entire show.
Watching this DVD (which we did several times over the last week) with my kids was a real pleasure because you can see the absolute joy in their face with each viewing as they discover something they had previously missed. As an adult, the episodes stand up to repeat viewing as well because Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a show that entertains without approaching the annoyance that many of its peers devolve into.
While the actual DVD did not contain any additional bonus features, Disney did create a PDF chock full of activities. These are easily printed out and provide kids more value that extends beyond just the DVD. My kids are at the perfect age for these activity sheets and really enjoyed them. The best part is that all you have to do is reprint them and you have a new set available to them for the next time.
You can get a head start on the printouts at the link from the image below.
The DVD contains the following episodes:
- Mickey's Sport-y-Thon
- Mickey's Mousekball
- Mickey's Mousekedoer Adventure
- Mickey's Happy Mousekeday
- Donald's Brand New Clubhouse
- Mickey's Mystery