Every night, 8:00 p.m. marks my tipping point of where I stop doing homework, and start taking part in procrastination. It’s a time at which I have probably worked on homework for two to four hours, and quite frankly, have little interest in continuing to do so. But more importantly, 8:00 marks the time of which Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOMs) are played on Disney’s childhood television program. And although I am a seventeen-year-old senior in high school, I have no shame in admitting that Disney channel is, and has been, my guilty pleasure.

So when I plop down on my red couch in the family room and start flipping through the channels on the television, it is almost impossible for me to ignore my favorite childhood films still playing on Disney channel. More importantly, as Halloween is just around the corner, Disney continues its tradition of encouraging the holiday spirit by playing DCOMs such as Halloweentown, Halloweentown II, Halloweentown High, and Return to Halloweentown.

While that may just seem like a mouthful of Halloween, these movies truly did teach my elementary-school self some lessons that I still remember today. The Halloweentown series expanded my imagination, inspired my holiday spirit, strengthened my excitement for Halloween, and overall, left a special mark on my childhood that I still treasure to this day.

But it’s not just the Halloween related DCOMs that are members of “Julia’s Favorite Disney Movies Collection.” Looking back on the days when Disney channel was playing in my household 24/7, I realize that there were so many great DCOMs that I watched, and looking back on them, they seem to have been some of the more memorable experiences of my childhood. As I sat on that red couch watching these programs five to ten years ago, there is no way I realized the valuable lessons that these intriguing plots were teaching me at such a young age.

While the Halloweentown series is the reason why Halloween is now my favorite holiday, so many different DCOMs taught me other lessons about myself and about life in general. It was Smart House that taught me about the importance of family, and the dangers of technology. The Color of Friendship informed me of the significance of embracing diversity and establishing strong relationships with the people in my life. I learned about my own Irish heritage through my interest in The Luck of the Irish. Zenon allowed me to expand my imagination of life outside of planet earth. I credit Cheetah Girls for being the model of how I treasure my friendships with the best friends that I have today. I even used High School Musical as a manual to transition from Welsh Valley Middle School to Harriton High School, as it allowed me to find a better (although, maybe a tad unrealistic) understanding of the social hierarchy and extra-curricular life of a high school environment.

In short, while I’m making decisions about college and the big future that lies ahead of me, I still remember the best parts of the past, and my love for Disney channel is no exception. So as you flip through the channels and skip over Disney, remember all the fun that these programs provided us with and don’t be scared to take that trip down memory lane!