Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Choo Choo Express on the Disney Channel, a Review

Recently I was chosen by Gather.com to review a special episode of the children's cartoon, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse called Choo Choo Express. For my review, I received a delicious prize package in the mail from Gather.com the day before the cartoon aired which was Sunday, October 25th at 7pm. My prize package contained two packages of microwave popcorn, a big bag of Starburst candy and a big bag of Dove dark chocolates which were all very thoroughly enjoyed by me and my adult daughter and the youngest two of her sons.

The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse has changed a lot since I first saw it years ago. Mickey and his pals, Minnie Mouse, Donald and Daisy Duck, Goofy and Pluto are in their own half hour cartoon to teach young children colors, alphabet, numbers, shapes, cooperation, friendship and more. The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Choo Choo Express was a special episode of the show and was an hour long instead of the usual half hour.

The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Choo Choo Express episode started with Professor Ludwig Von Drake coming to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to talk to the gang about snow. The Professor loves snow but hates that it melts when it gets hot. So the Professor is going to go to Mistletoe Mountain to experiment and make snow that does not melt when it is hot so that everyone can play in the snow anytime they want. Before the Professor leaves though, he says he doesn't know how he will get all the snow back to the clubhouse; he needs a train. So out comes a picture of the Mickey Mouse Choo Choo Express train that Mickey and the gang need to search for so they can bring it out to Mistletoe Mountain to bring back the special snow to play in. Off the Professor goes to Mistletoe Mountain while Mickey and the gang get the Choo Choo Express train out of storage and ride in it on their way to get all that lovely non-melting snow.

The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Choo Choo Express is led by a locomotive with Mickey Mouse as the engineer. Then along came the train cars that are each in a different shape and color; pink circle, yellow triangle, blue rectangle, green square caboose, then red heart, pink hexagon, blue diamond and eventually a yellow star. As they chug along, the railroad tracks come out of the "mouth" on the train locomotive in different colored sections. They have adventures and problems that kids have to help the Mickey Mouse gang solve with the help of special Mouse tools.

Once they get to Mistletoe Mountain, they pick up the special snow that Professor Von Drake created and take it back to the Clubhouse, then they must take the train and go pick up guests for their snow party. They chug along to pick up Clarabelle cow and her dog Bella, then Chip and Dale and finally a couple of mystery guests who turn out to be Santa and Mrs. Claus.

There is plenty of up-beat music and singing throughout the episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Choo Choo Express. I sat cuddled up with my four year old special needs grandson and we watched the episode and laughed and had a good time. He didn't want me to sing along with the songs though, guess he knows his grandma pretty well! At one point he broke out in hysterical laughter when Mickey Mouse skied down a mound of snow and snow flipped onto Donald Duck, making him look like a snowman Donald. It was so cute, I wish I could have captured that moment on film or video. I won't forget it though; it is now one of my special memories that I will hold in my heart forever.

Fortunately we video taped the episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Choo Choo Express because we've already had to watch it a couple more times since the first time. If you missed Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Choo Choo Express on October 25th, you can watch the entire episode online for free here.

I would definitely recommend Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Choo Choo Express for any young children, especially children under six years old. I know my four year old grandson loved the show. He loves trains and the episode completely captured his attention. Our eight year old watched the episode too but I didn't hear him say a lot about it and the ten year old wasn't into it at all.

If your kids loved watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Choo Choo Express, there is a game based on the show they can play online for free here.

Just in time for a great Christmas gift idea, the DVD of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Choo Choo Express will be released on December 1, 2009. You can buy it from Amazon.com (or pre-order it) for $16.99.

There is also a lift-the-flap paperback book from the show, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Choo Choo Express by author Sharon Fass Yates available at Amazon.com here for $4.99.