Back To School On The Disney School Bus

September is back-to-school time, as we have seen here in Tulgey Wood, and that means lunch-box time. Of all the many classic lunch boxes created over the years, do you know which was the top-selling "lunch kit" of all time? It's the dome-style Disney School Bus, first issued in 1961.  Cleverly designed by Disney artist and Disney Legend Al Konetzni, the unique lunch box features children (Alice, Donald's nephews) or childlike (such as Thumper, Dumbo and Bambi, who is actually carrying the lunch box on which he appears) characters boarding the yellow bus. The adult characters are on hand to see the kids off or in the case of Goofy drive the bus. Perhaps the most interesting inclusion is Jiminy Cricket, not because of his presence—Pinocchio is one of the students aboard the bus—but because of his size. Instead of his usual cricket size, Jiminy is seen out of scale as the same height as Mickey and Donald. This amusing anomaly was corrected in the Canadian version of this box on which Jiminy was replaced by Practical Pig.  How big a seller was this little school bus? By 1976, 9 million of these cheerful boxes had been manufacture by lunch-box giant and Disney licensee Aladdin.