Disney Twenty Three Magazine Reveals Convention and Fan Club Details
5Mar2009 Filed under: Disney, Event, Theme Parks Author: RickyThe mystery behind Disney’s “Are you 23?” viral question is quickly unraveling leading up to the March 10 reveal date.
At least one Barnes & Noble store has put out the new quarterly “Disney Twenty Three” magazine a few days earlier than they were supposed to and DC blog reader Joseph has sent me the details about it.
A membership to the new D23 fan club includes:
- A membership card with a personalized charter member certificate with characters drawn by David Pacheco
- A surprise collectible gift for D23 members from the new Walt Disney Archives collection
- Exclusive special events and merchandise opportunities
- Discounted admission to the D23 Expo on 9/10-9/13/09 in Anaheim, CA
That’s right, an official Disney convention for fans will be taking place in or near Disneyland from Sept. 10-13, 2009, one day after the 40th Anniversary event for The Haunted Mansion. Note that being a member of D23 only grants you discounted admission, which means the event will be open to anyone willing to pay to attend.
The new magazine costs $15.95 and comes out four times a year. The premiere issue’s cover contains a photo of Walt Disney looking through the camera and the back cover is black with a quote from Walt that reads, “It seems to me that we have a lot of story yet to tell”.
Articles inside the photo filled 12″x12″ glossy magazine include:
- The Disney Archives
- The Anne Liebovitz photo’s article
- Through Tim Burtons Looking Glass
- The Suite Story - Disney Gallery & Castle Suite
- On top of the World - cooking article
- Finding Pixar
- UP
- Sleeping Beauty Reawakens in the castle
- Writing the Next Chapter- Book article
- Little Mermaid on Broadway
- Spirit of 23- About Walt & company history
I just checked my local Barnes & Noble and there was no sign of the magazine yet, as it’s not supposed to be placed on newsstands until March 10 when the official D23 announcement is made at the Disney shareholder’s meeting.
Thanks to Joseph for all of the information!
- Tags: Are You 23?, D23, Disney Twenty Three
22 Responses to “Disney Twenty Three Magazine Reveals Convention and Fan Club Details”
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distant creations is a blog about the world and more. the world is: amazing. amusing. creative. confusing. this blog is here to deliver the best and most bizarre of the world and beyond. from distant lands to your home town.
topics to be featured here include technology, movies, television, music, collectibles (mainly action figures), theme parks (mainly Disney), video games, and any other interesting or strange news that pops up in the world.
the name 'distant creations' originated when I needed a term to summarize my many projects. my creations encompass a wide variety of fields and areas and are thus deemed as 'distant'.
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micsaund
March 5th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
$16 for a magazine? :o
Grumpwurst (aka Ray)
March 5th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
It’s a 12″x12″ GLOSSY magazine. The odd shaped paper alone justifies a greater price for the magazine.
I’m just wondering what if any impact this pay-to-play D23 club will have on the fan communities that are not officially sanctioned
Grumpwurst (aka Ray)
March 5th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
This blog post is getting a lot of ReTweeting on Twitter
Sal
March 5th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
wow! i can’t wait to see it!!
Ray (not grumpwurst)
March 5th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
The more and more of this that gets released or leaked, the less and less enthused I get about it. First it was implied the merchandise was going to be exclusive to membership along with fan gatherings and online communities. Now, they have a publicly available magazine and membership only gets you a discounted admission to a convention available to everyone. Where’s the membership perk? Granted the magazine is large but it doesn’t need to be. They’re making it large sized to justify the insane cost of it. Unless something amazing is announced on March 10th, this D23 is going to be a big bust.
Ray (not grumpwurst)
March 5th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Looking at the contents of the inaugural edition doesn’t exactly excite me either. Is there really anything in this edition that we haven’t read or see elsewhere by now or makes it worth the $16?
Grumpwurst (aka Ray)
March 5th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
I would suspect that membership would get you a subscription to this magazine or at least a subscription is available. The per issue cost for some magazines is significantly higher than you’d pay if you subscribe.
But, I really would be upset if Disney actually attempted something like this without doing the research to know they could succeed. Because, at first blush, this looked like Disney’s attempt to cash in on the MouseFest/MagicMeets craze and all the other fan-driven content/media/events.
And in the process might crush some of the smaller communities who couldn’t compete with what they have to offer. I’m still going to hold out judgment. They may be starting small and then ramping up as they go along.
But, if the end up being what my conspiracy theory mind is afraid of, it’ll be hard for John Lassiter to be able to continue to make the claim that Disney want’s to embrace the bloggers and podcasters
otisney
March 5th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
A magazine………hmmmmmmmmmmm…….interesting………….
Matt
March 5th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Seems like they’ve realized the popularity of the fan meets and Orlando Attractions Magazine. I wonder if message boards and podcasts will be a part of it also.
The NFFC meets were created after Disney stopped their official Disneyana meets and Attractions Magazine was started after Disney stopped publishing Disney Magazine.
Joe
March 5th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
What wasn’t said is how much does the membership cost?
Chris
March 5th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
also what hasn’t been revealed. Will this be available in Canada..I’m still upset about them discontinuing the fanclub for that credit card that I can’t get.
Joseph M
March 5th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
I’m the one who found the magazine- There is a welcome letter from Bob Iger- Its too long to copy here- but basically states-”thanks to fans, we have created D23, with its one of a kind experiences, special events, collectibles, Web site and opportunities to meet others who share the same affection and fascination for Disney”- The magazine is basically a glorified version of the old Magic Kingdom Club Disney News- but the pictures are much better & printed on heavier stock paper & glossy pages- Yet the question I can’t find is, how much membership is- It just refers you to the website which hasn’t been updated yet http://www.disney.com/d23
The one thing it does repeat in both Igers letter & later on from what I posted above- It keeps mentioning Expo, but doesn’t really specify convention- so I doubt we’ll be returning to the old Disneyana conventions of the past-I didn’t have time earlier but the full information on the expo is “Discounted admission to the D23 expo: The Ultimate Disney Fan Experience, taking place on Sept 10-13, 2009 in Anaheim, CA
It also states “Join and learn more at disney.com/d23. Membership sign up also available at: Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World Resort, Disney Stores and Disneyshopping.com” but no prices quoted. So I guess we’ll have to wait till 3/10, unless you can beat it out of a Disney cast member.
BradK
March 6th, 2009 at 2:42 am
Membership does include an annual subscription to the magazine. Thanks to Joseph’s tip, I was able to secure a couple of copies and have published a full review with some photos (but no real spoilers to speak of) at http://www.stitchkingdom.com/tag/d23
Christopher
March 6th, 2009 at 10:38 am
In reply to Grumpwurst (aka Ray)’s comment about how it could crush some of the smaller communities that can’t compete with what they have to offer. To what extent are you talking here? If it’s something like a message board group planning a meet, I don’t think it will affect that at all. Over time, message board groups tend to form good friendships which a grand, nationwide or worldwide fan club is not likely to do. So yes, people will have a common cause to come together, but they won’t know each other like the message board events.
If you’re talking about something financially motivated then you could have a good point. But even still, some of these fan driven things that have been going on “unofficially” have such a devoted following that this would probably just be an extra, official thing they would add to what they already do.
Just my two cents anyway.
Myself, I’m no so enthusiastic about this now. I love Disney but don’t really want to pay for a glorified fan club in which most information that is pertinent to anything will be easily found online. I’m not much of a collector so discounts on merchandise or exclusive items won’t motivate me to join either. I was hoping for something grander….then again, there could be something we still don’t know about this.
Grumpwurst (aka Ray)
March 6th, 2009 at 11:14 am
In response to Christopher’s comments,
I’m a very paranoid person and I’m afraid that once Disney established an “official” community through forums and other media (maybe a podcast that they don’t neglect is in the future), that the blind eye they have turned to the “unofficial”.
Back when Disney helped WDWCelebrations with the EPCOT 25 celebration I was thinking and postulating with my friends who were wondering why they were so helpful that they may have been testing the waters on the marketability of reentering pay-for-play fan events.
If Disney has an official presence their attorneys may have teeth to try and either blatantly shut unofficial conduits of information down, or absorb them and make them official. It would be good news for those webmasters who get absorbed because I’m sure it would happen with some kind of compensation and CM position to continue to run it.
But, there is a loss of some openness when a site is “official” compared to “unofficial”.
Time will only tell what is up Disney Corporate’s sleeve. Whether they want to be just another offering among many or be the preferred and predominate (or only) offering.
I just get flashbacks to when Warner Brothers tried to shut down all the Harry Potter fan sites about 10 years ago and hope “the man” has learned it’s lession
Jeff in BigD
March 7th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
$16 may be a hefty price, but for a quarterly with quality stock paper and a well designed layout isn’t unheard of.
Based on the discription and that it seems more like a coffee table type publication, it sounds very similar to Communication Arts Magazine. It’s a quarterly graphic design magazine with a hefty $24 price tag, but makes for a great coffee table book.
I’ll give the first issue a shot. If I’m not impressed, I’ll wait a few issues to give them a chance to find the right mix & if it’s still not worth it, I’ll move on.
JJ
March 7th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
This is a lousy idea. Are they tone-deaf at Disney? Has being inside the “Dopey” building gotten to them? Do they realize that there is a MAJOR economic meltdown happening? I can’t possibly envision paying $16 for a magazine. The old Disney News was fine, but that went away. So did the Magic Kingdom Club, which used to be FREE. Now, they want to pull more money out of the wallets of Disney fans, to get us to pay probably hundreds of dollars for a “convention,” and to spend more money to build a community that fans already built themselves.
What a shameless ploy from Disney to try to “appeal” to the customer that it basically turned its back on years ago. I still love Disney, and collect many items … but I hate giving The Walt Disney Company more of my money. Iger got tens of millions of dollars in “bonus” last year, while my stock is worth less than HALF of what it was three years ago.
D23 is insulting and a terrible, terrible idea.
reid
March 10th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
I don’t get it. What is the significance of the number 23?
Stephanie
April 4th, 2009 at 2:12 am
The membership costs $75 and includes membership card, certificate, 1 year of “twenty-three” magazine, and a gift they will send you in the mail. Also if you join in 2009 you become a “charter member” and can buy exclusive merchandise.
23 stands for 1923, the year the Walt Disney Company was founded.
The convention is $30/day or $90 for all 4 days… not hundreds of dollars, lol. :P
JJ
April 4th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
If I took my spouse and my kids to the Expo, that’s $90 each for the adults and a reduced rate ($45?) for kids, and by my accounting that’s hundreds of dollars.
Stephanie
April 12th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
It’s going to add up if you bring a lot of people, of course, but it’s not hundreds of dollars per person. It looks like the Expo is going to be mostly for older and hard-core Disney fans. I think kids might like some parts of it, but other parts will be boring for them. If you want to do something with your kids I’d suggest going to Disneyland itself. ;)
jalal
February 24th, 2010 at 11:00 am
The 23 Enigma refers to the belief that most incidents and events are directly connected to the number 23.
see The Number 23 movie documentary for more info
Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ElUBr6-GLU