My Disney Afternoon Fanboy Experience

As a kid who grew up in the 80s and 90s, there was nothing better than the Disney Afternoon. Every day after school, I’d plop down on the couch and binge watch DuckTales, TaleSpin, Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Goof Troop, Darkwing Duck, and more (the rotation of shows changed from season to season). To date, I can still sing every word of the DuckTales theme song. Characters like Launchpad McQuack, Goofy’s son Max, Kit Cloudkicker, and Gadget Hackwrench became something akin to close, personal friends. More like family really. BFFs. You get it.

So, you can imagine how excited I was to learn that you could meet a number of the characters from the Disney Afternoon at Walt Disney World. If you had told me as a kid that I’d be dancing in front of Cinderella Castle with Max from Goof Troop, I never would have believed you, but I got to do just that at the Move It Shake It Mousekedance It Street Party.

I was even more excited to learn that you can meet a large number of characters from the Disney Afternoon at DinoLand USA in Animal Kingdom. Chip and Dale are both there, though not in their Rescue Rangers costumes. Instead, they’re dressed as dinosaurs. Uncle Scrooge is meetable too. However, as far as I was concerned, the single most important meet and greet was the opportunity to meet the living legend that is LaunchPad McQuack. I think I embarrassed my kids a little with how much I was bouncing around with delight while we waited in line.

Unfortunately, some of the characters from the Disney afternoon are a bit harder to meet. Darkwing Duck, the Terror that Flaps in the Night, is occasionally meetable at the parks, but not very often. He’ll occasionally appear at events like the DVC Moonlight Magic. Because of this, I’ve yet to “get dangerous” with Darkwing, but I remain hopeful.

It’s been a couple years since the first time I met Launchpad, but I still remain starstruck. If you happen to meet him on your next trip to the parks, ask if he remembers me. I may have made a bit of a scene.