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Child star from the original movie appears in 'Mary Poppins Returns'

Back to Cherry Tree Lane!
/ Source: TODAY

This is totally "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

Karen Dotrice, who played Jane Banks in "Mary Poppins," has a cameo role in the newly-released "Mary Poppins Returns"!

Karen Dotrice
Karen Dotrice in 2014, and in 1964's "Mary Poppins" as Jane Banks.Getty Images, Alamy

Dotrice, 63, is shown briefly walking down Cherry Tree Lane. She asks the grown-up Jane (now played by Emily Mortimer) for directions ... and then she's gone.

"It was like going back to your childhood home," she told Gold Derby of returning to Cherry Tree Lane. "This was bigger and better and looks more extraordinary than I remembered."

The actress was just 9 when she shot the original film, and found that experience pretty extraordinary, too. "We were just like a big family, very much the same feeling as I got with this new crowd, because they were all really in love with each other," she said. "There were no egos and stuff."

MARY POPPINS, Matthew Garber, Karen Dotrice, Julie Andrews, 1964
Matthew Garber and Dotrice as Michael and Jane Banks with Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins in "Mary Poppins."Everett Collection

She remembered Walt Disney being on set for the original film, mouthing the words to the songs behind the camera. "This was his baby," she said. "he put every ounce of himself into that original film."

Dotrice stepped away from acting in the early 1980s, but it's not because of any experience she had making "Mary Poppins." In fact, she has wonderful memories of the movie, especially interacting with Disney himself.

"I really enjoyed Uncle Walt," she told ABC’s "20/20." "He was such a cool dude."

We did see the adult Dotrice recently, at the November 29 world premiere of the film at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, dazzling in a red dress.

Mary Poppins
Dotrice at the world premiere of "Mary Poppins Returns" in Hollywood on November 29.Getty Images

She's not alone in returning to the film family: "Returns" also features one of the original film's other stars, Dick Van Dyke.

Mary Poppins
Dotrice with Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews at the after-party for Disney's "Mary Poppins" 40th Anniversary Edition DVD launch party and screening in Los Angeles in 2004.Getty Images

The sequel, which opened in theaters December 19, is pretty magical if John Krasinski's reaction is any indication. Krasinski, who's married to Emily Blunt (she replaces Julie Andrews as the title character), told Ellen DeGeneres the film left him in tears.

"I was crying so much, I blew through the tissue box in 20 minutes (and) had to go to the napkins," he said. "And then when I ran out of napkins, it was just all sweater."

As for Dotrice, she almost felt the hand of Disney while watching "Returns" at the premiere.

"I was thinking of Walt and how he must be in the cinema when we were at the Dolby that night," she said. "I was kind of looking around. I almost expected to see him there."