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 these did not prove as popular. The morning was presented in the Egg and Spoon Cafe, whilst the last two hours were presented at the Bedtime Treehouse. On 31st January, 2005, a new logo and ident packaging was introduced. On 2nd May that year, the Egg and Spoon Cafe and Bedtime Treehouse were dropped and replaced with Morning Owl and Bedtime Spider respectively. Also 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 new group of presenters, The Cheeky Monkeys, were introduced on 14th August, 2006, replacing the owl and spider presenters from earlier. These new characters presented the morning strand Playhouse Disney Breakfast, and the bedtime strand Playhouse Disney Bedtime. On 5th March, 2007, a group of live-action presenters started hosting in tandem with The Cheeky Monkeys until the latter were discontinued on 27th April, 2009 (though were still sometimes seen in inanimate toy form).

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. On 10th January, 2011, the channel suddenly dropped all of its presenters from its continuity.

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. In order to compensate for the new programming, the channel increased its broadcasting hours, now closing every day at midnight.

Presentation returned to the schedule on 21st October, 2013 with the channel being presented by different presenters at different times of the day; these a group of computer animated shapes with eyes (9:00a.m. to 3:00p.m.), a group of traditionally animated crayons (9:00p.m. to midnight), and a group of flash animated talking animal characters who had a different group name and leading host depending on the time of day. Depending on what time of day it was and who was presenting, the channel also had different idents.

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
Little Disney's sourced its programmes from both Disney itself, as well as several international production companies and distributors. The channel was targeted towards children aged ten and under, with the lineup of shows reflecting that.

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
 * Veronica

The channel also screened in-house interstitials, which were 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
 * 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