Disney is well known for being full of Easter eggs in their films, however, I have an even better one to give to you all right now! Running a super successful YouTube and podcast series, Chris from 37 Disney Street, took a trip down our Main Street memory lane to discuss everything from his childhood. Enjoy this magical step back in time right here…

Good Morning Lovelies, 

Disney is one of the biggest loves of my life! Especially Disneyland Paris! Having experienced it for the first time in my early 20s, I haven’t looked back since and seek all information and news I can about it daily. 

One source that stands out amongst the rest is the fantastic 37 Disney Street. Based on YouTube and as a podcast of the same name, the magical trio who host it, Chris, Lucy and Hugh, know everything there is to know about the parks, presenting an hour long show every Sunday night discussing them. 

From Tiki cups to trivial news that they are happy to debate with viewers, they are so lovely, funny and helpful that I wanted to share their fantastic work with you all. I also wanted to give you all a chance to meet one of the hosts, the brilliant Chris, who kindly put up with me being a right pain, as I asked him to come for a trip with me down memory lane. It’s time to step into the Tamburello time machine…

Let’s begin by letting you introduce yourself to us? Tell us your name, age and the year you were born!

Hi, I’m Chris Fletcher. I’m 45 and I was born in 1979.

Now, let’s step back in time! What year would you love to go back to and relive all over again?

Wow. I’m very much an of the moment person, so the idea of going back and reliving things isn’t high on my wish list. That being said, 2011 was pretty amazing. I got married to my wife, took a musical I wrote, Evil: The Musical, with a friend to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and my brothers and I released our debut album, the eponymous “handmadehands”, along with releasing a single - Sunshine and filming a music video for it. It was a jam-packed year of fantastic achievements!

Okay, now picture this, you are at school and it’s lunchtime! What foods do you always associate with either your packed lunch or canteen?

The thing that instantly comes to mind is Spar Burger Bites (crisps) dipped in chocolate mousse. I always used to have peanut butter sandwiches when I had packed lunches. Back before that, I had school dinners. We used to sit at the same table every day and one of the older kids was a ‘server’ and out the food out on everyone’s plates. It had all changed by the time I was old enough to be a server, but that’s another lasting memory. That and being taken into the kitchens when I got a fish bone stuck in my throat!!! At High school, I had violin lessons once a week right before lunch, and it always finished before the class I was missing - RE finished, so I used to take orders from my mates and walk down to the shops for them all!

You’ve got to go into your last lesson of the day! What are you hoping it will be and why?

I always loved Expressive Arts. A chance to do a bit of drama and mess about with friends. In those classes, I produced a show, rigged a lighting plot for a full school musical, created educational videos and more. It always fuelled my creativity.

Schools over, you have rushed home to watch TV. What are you turning on? Why this show in particular?

Jonny Ball Reveals All!! I loved Jonny Ball. Still do, but what I liked about it was all the different experiments. Science and maths made sense when he talked about it, and he did it in such an engaging way. I liked How 2 with Caroline Vorderman for the same reason!

You’ve reached the weekend and you’re going to the cinema! What film do you remember seeing the most when you were younger? Why is this one such a classic to you?

It’s either Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker because my uncle took me to see it, or maybe Back To The Future 2. Mum and dad took us to see that but didn’t tell us. We didn’t even cotton on when we were stood in the queue! There was a great little cinema in Dewsbury when I was a kid. I saw The Muppet Christmas Carol there, and The Little Mermaid and The Jungle Book. Back to The Future remains the best trilogy ever made for me, though. Something about the future in the second film was so magical as a child, and Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd were just so good!

You are back home and it’s time to play with your toys! What was the toy you most wanted when you were younger and why? Did you get it in the end?

We were obsessed with He-Man figures in my house. They were the best. I always wanted the Castle Greyskull, but we never got it. When I think back now though, the toy that gave me the most pleasure was a wooden crane that I got for Christmas one year. When we were little, my mum and dad were wooden toymakers. They once got a lucrative deal with John Lewis, but an error in production which John Lewis wouldn’t allow them to correct ultimately led to the business folding. It was hard times, but we learned the value of things, and the crane remains in my mind as something something so special. We didn’t have a lot as kids, we didn’t want for much and the value of the at present was immeasurable.

Is there anything you still own from your childhood that you simply cannot bear to part with?

I’m not one for material things, to be honest. There are soft toys still at my parents that have sentimental value, but that’s about all. A couple of years ago I was at my mother-in-law’s nursery and spotted one of my mum and dad’s toy castles. I was stunned as I’d not seen any of their things in years. She gave it to me straight away and it’s in our house now. Aside from that, my copy of Watership Down and a book called Clanky The Mechanical boy. That’s about it.

What moment in history do you think defined or stayed with you from your childhood? Can you explain why this left such a mark on you?

The Aids epidemic in the late 80’s is what sticks with me. The advertising campaigns scared the hell out of me as a child. I was convinced we were all going to get it and die. I think that the awful depiction of homosexuality and the impact of this which arguably lasted decades really helped shape me. That kind of narrow minded scaremongering is what started me fact-checking and forming my own views, and as a parent it’s what makes me speak honestly and open with my kids when they have questions about things they don’t understand.

Finally, would you go back and do your childhood all over again? Would you change anything about it? And how much has it impacted you as an adult and what you do now?

I wouldn’t change a single thing. Have I made mistakes in my life? Sure. Are there things that could’ve gone differently? Sure. But without those times and experiences, you don’t learn or grow. I had a fantastic childhood with far more good than bad times there isn’t a day that I don’t feel lucky for everything I have and it is all down to everything I have experienced and how I have used those experiences throughout my life.

Thank you so much Chris for taking part in this nostalgic trip. To find out more about 37 Disney Street or to watch the weekly Sunday night show, pop over to their YouTube channel. They have a great catalogue for you to binge, including discussions about classic Disney films and charity missions. 

They make me want to book a trip every week, so be prepared, because they are that good! You never know, you may even end up watching them from Disneyland Paris. Just remember to send them a trip report about your time there!

Joey X