captain_slinky | Disney Channel

I picked up an old VHS tape from the Goodwill Outlet today that was simply marked as "Cartoons". I took the tape over to their testing station, where I rewound the tape and hit play. And then, as I stared at the video screen in front of me like one of those kids from the "The Ring" movies, I pressed the "FFWDSCAN" button to confirm that I was seeing what I was seeing... and...

OMG YOU GUYS IT'S A SIX-HOUR TAPE OF A DISNEY CHANNEL FREE PREVIEW WEEKEND FROM THE 80'S!!!

You younger kids may not believe this, but from it's inception back in 1983 all the way till 1997, The Disney Channel was a PAY TV SERVICE, not unlike Showtime or HBO. It wasn't just one of the "filler channels" that came with your basic cable subscription. It was INCREDIBLE, full of classic Disney movies and television as well as new programming based on classic Disney characters.

Ask most any Disney fan who lived through the 80's if they'd pay to have that channel back, and most likely they'll just hand you a blank check. It was THAT GOOD.

Once or twice a year, The Disney Channel would unscramble their signal for a full weekend so people could check it out and get hooked :)

EVERYONE I knew who had cable tv, bought a batch of blank video tapes for this weekend every year. And now that I'm living in The Future, I keep looking at the home-recorded video tapes at every single thrift store and garage sale in hopes of finding a tape like this :)

Now I need to go hook up my VCR :)