Disney has perfected the art of promoting and cross promoting their films, home vid releases, theme parks and television series since this program, which should have been a showcase for both Walt Disney World and its syndicated series "The New Mickey Mouse Club" in 1977. It basically failed on both counts.
The group of kids were hardly ever referred to as Mouseketeers at any time during the program, mostly called "children" by their wrangler, played by Ronnie Schell. And the very weak storyline probably would have been better served if we got to see the stars of the show simply being themselves rather than reciting sitcom style dialog.
Jo Anne Worley turns up as a magazine reporter following the group, so that gave it a bit of energy and fun. And we do get to see some of the mid-70s wonders of the Magic Kingdom, like River Country, Space Mountain and Fort Wilderness.
It's a shame there wasn't more of the stage performances of the Mouseketeers, to capture what they were trying to achieve. But even during their performances, there were long cutaways to audience members, meaning even less camera time for those little disco mice!
The program didn't give a sense of what was good about "The New Mickey Mouse Club," and it only barely touched on what was cool about Walt Disney World, and that's why I couldn't rank it higher. I wished I could have!
