Walt Disney Mini Classics on VHS

This commercial was from around initial release of Walt Disney Mini Classics. They started with four, but would eventually release 17 titles until being phased out in 1993, when they were replaced by Disney Favorite Stories.

I worked in video stores while these were available and boy was there an appetite for these tapes, both as a rental and as a sale. Their lower price made them perfect gifts for kids who would re-watch them again and again. And when they went on sale from $14.95 to $12.99 or even as low as $9.99, we would always sell out of them.

They released sixteen titles under this banner starting in 1988 an ending in 1991.

1. Ben and Me

2. Bongo

3. Donald in Mathmagic Land

4. Mickey and the Beanstalk

5. Mickey’s Christmas Carol

6. Mickey’s Magical World

7. Peter and the Wolf

8. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

9. The Reluctant Dragon

10. The Small One

11. The Wind in the Willows

12. Willie the Operatic Whale

13. Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore

14. Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day

15. Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree

16. Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too!

All we had to do was put one of them on the TV in the store and when the intro would start people would stop in their tracks. They would just stare at the TV as if hypnotized.

While VHS was the more popular format to buy Mini Classics, they also sold them on Laserdisc. Each Laserdisc held the equivalent of two or sometimes even three VHS tapes worth of Mini Classics.

I held onto my original tapes and they are in a box somewhere. I find their packaging comforting, even if most of these classic were released on DVD and on YouTube. I am an especially big fan of Donald in Mathmagic Land, a short we watched often in school when I was a kid. You know, ‘cuz MATH RULES!

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Watch Donald in Mathmagic Land