COLUMN: A little ridiculous, but absolutely amazing

Disney Channel is having a resurgence in popularity for Gen Z and Millenials and I am here for it.

On March 5 and 7, Disneyland in California held their first ever event dedicated to Disney Channel and Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOMs), called Disneyland After Dark: Disney Channel Nite.

Disneyland has hosted After Dark events before, in which park attendees buy a separate ticket for the event. A ticket comes with three extra hours at the parks after the normal closing time, special events and festivities and select free food and beverages. Previous After Dark themes have included Star Wars, Pride, Princesses and more.

Disney After Dark events are limited in capacity, so tickets usually go fast. That was no different with Disney Channel Nite, which only had two dates, compared to Star Wars’ eight dates.

Some of the events that made Disney Channel Nite special include a “High School Musical” pep rally, a “Phineas and Ferb” dance party, “Camp Rock” karaoke and the change to meet many of the prized DCOM characters.

Many of the Disney adults that frequent the parks today grew up on Disney Channel shows and movies, so this was a good play on Disney’s part. I can envision Disneyland continuing this event in the coming years, as DCOMs seem to be an untapped form of park entertainment at the moment.

Unfortunately for me, some of my favorite DCOMs likely won’t be featured anytime soon at the Disney Parks. The popular ones used for events like this usually have zany, colorful characters and plenty of music to sing along to. While I certainly grew up watching “High School Musical” and “Camp Rock,” the ones that I truly love the most are from a decade or so before those films.

The first movie I ran to watch when my family got Disney+ was the 1999 Disney Channel Original movie “The Thirteenth Year.” This was a good year for Disney Channel, with “Zenon: Girl fo the 21st Century,” “Smart House” and “Johnny Tsunami” coming out the same year, but “The Thirteenth Year” takes the cake.

This movie follows the adopted junior high swimming star Cody Griffin, who finds out that his birth mom is actually a mermaid. On his 13th birthday, water starts affecting him, his mermaid heritage coming out. It’s a classic coming of age story, but with fins!

Another favorite of mine focuses on the coming of age of a different mythical creature. “The Luck of the Irish” came out in 2001 and features 15-year-old Kyle Johnson finding out that he’s Irish. Not just Irish, but an Irish leprechaun. Someone stole his family’s lucky coin and his family will all shrink to one foot tall until they can get the coin back.

These older DCOMs were a little ridiculous, but absolutely amazing. Some of the best non-scary Halloween films came from this time of Disney Channel movies too, such as the “Halloweentown” and “Twitches” movies.

Most of these movies likely don’t get as much screen time as they used to, now that most people use Disney+ rather than an actual TV channel. I know I first watched most of these movies for the first time over school breaks because that was the only thing on. I’m sure I would have skipped over some of these favorites if I had Disney+ back then.

It’s interesting the nostalgia these DCOMs bring up in people. Not only were the movies from their childhood, but they also call back to a time when people actually flipped through TV channels. I wonder how kids today find new/old media.