Little Disney

Little Disney (formerly called Playhouse Disney and Disney Junior) was a children's television channel in Kuboia owned by The Walt Disney Company. Aimed at children aged ten and under, it broadcast a mixture of Disney-produced content as well as its own original programming.

The channel launched as a block on Disney Channel Kuboia on 14th June, 1999 before launching as its own channel on 13th May, 2002. It was among one of the last channels worldwide to maintain the Playhouse Disney logo, using it until April 2013 when it rebranded as Disney Junior - most versions had adapted the latter name almost two years earlier.

Little Disney ended its run on 27th December, 2020 at 11:59p.m. - a majority of its content has since been transferred over to streaming service Disney+.

As Playhouse Disney (1999-2013)
Little Disney had its origins as Playhouse Disney, which itself started its life on 14th June, 1999 as a programming block on Disney Channel Kuboia, airing every day from 9:00a.m. to 12:00p.m.

On 13th May, 2002, the Playhouse Disney block was discontinued, and it was spun off into its own channel. It aired everyday from 6:00a.m. to 8:00p.m., airing shows acquired from the American feed, as well as some other shows including Frootie Tooties, Fun Song Factory, Wimzie's House and Wildlife. In order to compete with KT and Nick Jr. Kuboia, the channel also started to produce its own programming in 2002, though it did not prove as popular. On 31st January, 2005, a new logo and ident packaging was introduced. In September that year, the channel extended its broadcast hours, now ending every night at 10:00p.m. The last three hours of each night were branded as Playhouse Disney Bedtime, and were dedicated to older works such as The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears. A few other programming blocks were rolled out in September 2005, including The Beautiful Stories of Playhouse Disney, which would show a film on Tuesdays and Sundays at 4:00p.m., and The Breakfast Bunch, a weekday morning block presented by a group of coloured monkeys.

In mid-2010, Playhouse Disney acquired the rights to some Nick Jr. programming, including Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go!, Max and Ruby, Team Umizoomi and Yo Gabba Gabba! This was likely due to the closure of Nick Jr. Kuboia later that year.

As Disney Junior (2013-2017)
On 15th April, 2013, Playhouse Disney was rebranded as Disney Junior. Around this time, the channel also began to attempt to appeal to a slightly older audience as well as pre-school children. On 29th April, two weeks after the rebrand, the channel extended its hours to midnight, and also started showing reruns of Sonic Underground and Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, though both only aired after 9:00p.m.

As Little Disney (2017-2020)
In June 2017, promos for Little Disney, a supposedly new television channel, began appearing. At the time, it was not stated to be a replacement for Disney Junior, this was instead confirmed the following month. Disney Junior officially rebranded as Little Disney on 23rd October, 2017. According to Little Disney's Twitter page, the decision to rebrand the channel under a new name was decided since it had enough differences to other Disney Junior feeds internationally to justify a different change in name.

Closure
In June 2020, following the launch of Disney+, it was revealed that all Disney channels in Kuboia would close sometime later that year, but no exact date was given out. On 11th November, it was later revealed that Little Disney would be closing down on 27th December, 2020.

The channel ended its run at 11:59p.m. that day, with the 1977 film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh being the last thing to air on the channel. After the film ended, the channel played its "Bedtime" song as usual, and then cut to a screen displaying the logo in the centre of a black background with no music, before the signal suddenly cut off a minute later.

Programming
Since Little Disney did not air any advertisements, breaks in between shows included promos for both itself and its sister channels, as well as interstitials which ranged from songs to promotional material.

At several points in the channel's life, in-vision continuity links were provided by presenters at certain times of the day. Unlike KT, these were pre-recorded.

Presentation
Weekday mornings, typically from 6:00a.m. to 9:00a.m. were typically presented by a group of presenters. From 2002 until September 2005, the breakfast strand was presented in the fictional Egg and Spoon Café, and was presented by a talking egg cup named Egg and a talking floating spoon named Spoon. Each day, they were joined by two human presenters.

In September 2005, the Egg and Spoon Café was dropped and replaced by The Breakfast Bunch, which was presented by five coloured monkeys, each of which had a different colour of fur (red, yellow, green, blue and pink). The Breakfast Bunch continued until August 2007, after which the morning featured normal continunity, though the monkeys themselves continued appearing as presenters for the channel until 2011.

The last few hours of each day were typically presented by live-action presenters. When the Playhouse Disney Bedtime strand was introduced in September 2005, a few of the monkey puppets from The Breakfast Bunch were featured in the continuity links, and continued to even after the brand was discontinued. However, in-vision presentation was abandoned completely in January 2011.

Presentation was reintroduced in June 2017, in which a CGI character, Veronica, and her living cuddly toys, presented on-air from 7:00p.m. until 9:00p.m.

Original programming
All of Little Disney's original programming was produced by Playtime Productions and Little Bird Studios.
 * Jukebox!
 * Lollipop Roulette
 * Petunia Pea
 * Professor Pickington

The channel also provided in-house programming, which was typically broadcast under the name Little Disney presents....

Acquired from Disney Junior (US)

 * Doc McStuffins
 * Fancy Nancy
 * Gigantosaurus
 * Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
 * Sofia the First
 * The Lion Guard
 * The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (remastered version)
 * Vampirina

Other acquired programming

 * Bluey
 * Caillou
 * Clangers (reboot series)
 * Claude
 * Curious George
 * Daisy & Ollie
 * Dora the Explorer
 * Kirby: Right Back at Ya!
 * Max and Ruby
 * Oliver O
 * Pororo the Little Penguin (series 3-6 episodes only)
 * Sonic Underground

Live show
Two live performances based on programmes airing on the channel at the time, Playhouse Disney Live took place in 2004 and 2006-07 respectively.

Magazine
A Playhouse Disney magazine began publication in October 2003. Published every four weeks, it featured puzzles and facts based on the channel's programming at the time. It also featured a TV guide for what will be on the channel for the upcoming few weeks. Without any prior warning, the magazine was discontinued after the September 2009 issue, likely due to budget cuts.

Some of the issues came packaged with DVDs or other forms of merchandise.

Mobile app
A mobile app for the channel was launched in July 2015, initially under the name Disney Junior Play! It acted as both an on-demand service, featuring new episodes of shows for a limited time, and a collection of minigames and stories. It was rebranded as Little Disney Planet in October 2017. The app was discontinued following the channel's closure, though those who previously downloaded it can still play the games on it.

Little Disney in Dutch
An additional service, titled Little Disney in Dutch, was available on some television providers. It followed an identical schedule to the main Little Disney channel, except all of the programmes were in the Dutch language. It was originally launched in July 2004 as Playhouse Disney in Dutch, and was also rebranded to Disney Junior in Dutch in 2013.

Website
A website for the channel was launched in 2002. It featured a seven-day week schedule and information about the channel's programming. As of January 2022, it redirects to a singular page explaining that the channel has closed and that its programming has moved to Disney+.

Tropes

 * Little Disney/YMMV
 * Little Disney/Trivia