To hear Steven Clark — the head of D23 — tell the story,
the event that kickstarted the creation of the first official community for Disney
fans actually occurred three years ago.
When he made this trip to a certain warehouse in Glendale, CA.
Ah, but this wasn’t just any old warehouse. This was one of
the Disney Archives’ off-site storage facilities. And as the co-author of “Disney: The First 100 Years
” wandered this
building, surrounded by shelf after shelf of the Crown Jewels of Disney
history, Steven thought that “ … we’ve gotta share this stuff with people. Our
fans will go crazy.”
And from that one little idea grew a company-wide
initiative. An effort to give Disney fans the sort of access that they’d
previously only dreamed about. Regularly taking them behind-the-scenes at WDI, Walt
Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Disney Theatrical, virtually every division at the Mouse House in
order to meet the men & women who actually make the magic.
The D23 website has all sorts of high quality content, including a This Day at Disney” feature which looks back at many of the motion pictures the Mouse has created over the years. Copyright 2009 Disney. All Rights Reserved
Okay. I know. Individual businesses at The Walt Disney
Company have previously had fan clubs or organizations. The Magic Kingdom Club and the Disney Movie
Club come immediately to mind. But Mickey’s ever never attempted something on
this scale before. Where every part of the Company is opening its doors, pulling
back the curtain to give D23 members access to really-for-real
behind-the-scenes items like production blogs for still-in-front-of-the-cameras
Disney films.
And – yes – I’ve read the same things that you’ve read. The
Disneyana fans who are already grousing about D23’s $74.99 annual membership
fee. These folks are complaining that D23 was only invented so that The Walt
Disney Company would then have yet another way to sell the fans limited edition
merchandise.
Well, Disney Legend and Walt Disney Imagineering’s
ambassador-at-large Marty Sklar insists that this is really not the case this
time around. Marty says that Mickey has actually learned from the mistakes that he made in
the past. During yesterday’s D23 teleconference, Sklar talked about how “ … the
Disneyana Conventions became mostly about merchandise. (D23) isn’t about
merchandise. It’s about communicating with our fans, getting them involved more
than they already are.”
That said, Boutique 23 is offering some pretty cool collectibles, including this members-only limited edition statue that depicts a young Walt Disney with his pal, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Copyright 2009 Disney. All Rights Reserved
And Dave Smith (i.e. the Founder and Director of The Walt
Disney Archives. Who was also on hand for yesterday’s teleconference) talked
about how “ … we looked at everything that came before.” Those previous efforts
that The Walt Disney Company had made to reach out to its fans (EX: The Disney
Club, the Disney Insider Yearbook) only to then have those efforts flame out.
This time around, there’ll be no flame-outs and failures.
The D23 initiative has huge support from on high, with Bob Iger, Dick Cook and
John Lasseter all determined to do
whatever they have to in order to make Disney’s new fan outreach effort a
success. And nowhere is this more evident than with the D23 Expo.
Copyright 2009 Disney. All Rights Reserved
Described as “The Ultimate Disney Fan Experience,” the D23 Expo is supposed to be so large that Baker & Co. couldn’t figure out how to stage this event at the Disneyland Resort. Which is why this four-day-long event — which is scheduled for September 10th -13th — is now being held across the street at the Anaheim Convention
Center. Months in the making, the D23 Expo (which reportedly cost the Company over a million dollars to stage) will feature celebrity appearances, film screenings, and a collector’s
forum.
And just so you know, this is the first of four Disney Expos
which will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center. The Walt Disney Company has already committed
to holding this annual exhibition (which it eventually hopes will become the Disneyana
equivalent of San Diego‘s Comic-Con International) in Southern California through 2013 and will
then consider taking the D23 Expo on the road.
Those of you who are looking to get in on the ground floor
with “The Official Community of Disney Fans” can do so today by clicking on
over to the D23 website, where you can then sign up to become a charter member.
Or if you’re the type who likes to look before you buy … Well, you can always pick
up a copy of “Disney twenty-three” magazine at your local Barnes & Noble
and/or the Disney Store. Better yet, you could drop by Disneyland Park this coming Saturday, where David Pacheco will be on-site at the Disneyana Shop between 9 – 11 a.m. to
sign some of the artwork, a T-shirt and pin that he created for D23.
Or – if you’d prefer to get a sense of where D23 started –
tune into “The View” this morning. When Whoopi Goldberg will be getting a tour of the very same warehouse where
Steven Clark had his Disney-related epiphany. Where he then became determined to create this single
all-encompassing entity that would then provide Disneyana fans with quality content as well as unprecedented
access.
Here’s hoping that Disney stays true to D23’s original goals.
Which isn’t to raise funds. But – rather –
to reach out to the fans and then convince them to come sign up for The Walt Disney Company’s first official community.
So what do you folks think? Is all of thd top quality content that’s already been over at the D23 website tempting you? Or is that $74.99-a-year price-tag making you somewhat hesitant to join Disney’s new community?
Your thoughts?