Every July 17, the community of Disney fans gather as one to celebrate a momentous day in their history. That’s right, today is MousePlanet’s birthday. Oh, it’s also Disneyland’s birthday or something like that, but we all know where our priorities lie, don’t we?
While it has been three years since MousePlanet first went live, for many of the people here it has been a journey that started at least a year prior to that. Going back to the summer of 1999, it warms my cockles to remember how we were all going to be billionaires within a couple years. Oh, we laugh at it now, but back then content on the Internet was king! All you had to do was buy a domain, promise to fill a niche — no matter how narrow — and some venture capital angel was going to fund us right to the moon.
Well, it didn’t work out that way. As with Disney itself, for MousePlanet the last four years have been a time of interesting and unexpected changes. And while I don’t yet have my own helicopter, I can only be happy with what we’ve done over the years here at MousePlanet.
MousePlanet started with a simple idea from a group of people on the fringe of sanity. Not only were most of us people who visited Disneyland almost every weekend (or as often as we could justify an 800-mile roundtrip from elsewhere), but we also had various Web sites dedicated to Disney minutae. So it seemed the logical step when Al Lutz came to us one-by-one and suggested that we all form together and try to make a business of it.
It was a struggle, but for almost a year people dedicated an amazing amount of time to putting all the pieces in place. And on July 17, 2000, we began a daily publishing schedule that has continued to this day (with some holiday breaks, of course). Of all the things MousePlanet has done, that is the single thing I think the staff should be most proud of. This group of people, almost all with day jobs and busy real lives, have made sure that every day our readers will have something new. It isn’t always the most scintillating stuff in the world and no one person is going to be interested in everything we publish, but we get it done.
And I’d like to personally thank everybody who over the years has helped to advance MousePlanet’s fortune. But I would like to highlight a few specific people who have, either publicly or behind the scenes, been instrumental in the success of MousePlanet.
First and foremost has to be Al Lutz. While he has gone his own way now, for more than three years, Al put in more hours every day than most people could imagine publishing MousePlanet every night. Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix is also a name you all know, and she has been just as tireless (or maybe “just as tired” would be equally true) in pursuing stories and events for MousePlanet.
There was a period when it seemed the only reason we had anything to publish at all was because we couldn’t get Kevin Yee to shut up. His wide base of knowledge and willingness to write on almost any topic was a great asset, and I’m glad to see he continues to prosper. Jim Hill and Michelle Smith were also vital in providing our initial stability.
If it weren’t for the core of Brian Bennett, Sue Holland, and Mike Scopa, MousePlanet would have been doomed to being a single-park Web site. The reportorial skill of David Koenig brought MousePlanet immediate credibility, and he is truly one of our most cherished assets. Kevin Krock has provided over 175 DVD reviews over the years, and when that includes Cinderella II, you know it isn’t all fun.
Behind the scenes, the technical knowledge of Tony Phoenix and Andrew Rich has proven truly invaluable over the years, with additional thanks going to David Drumm, Steven Ng, Dan Steinberg, and Karl Buiter for getting our systems off the ground in the first place. Finally, thanks to Lani Teshima and Adrienne Krock for editing and scheduling every article so that I don’t have to worry about what will be publishing on a given day; I just do it.
And there are a dozen other names worthy of recognition. I thank them all, and I’m proud of what they’ve done.
Finally, the MousePlanet staff has to gather around and thank the one group of people without whom this would all be wasted effort. That would be you, our readers. Over the years we have had an amazing community of readers. You’re never hesitant to let us know what we’re doing wrong, but you’re supportive of us in so many ways.
MouseAdventure has created its own little community of readers, and twice a year I am gratified to see so many returning happy faces.
Until recently, I was barely aware of our community of trip report writers, but it is an amazing core of people. And as we approach our 1,000th report for the archive, I’ve come to realize that this may be the most valuable resource we offer. Additionally, we’ve received hundreds of reader reviews in our hotel and restaurant review system. And of course, there is our very vocal group of MousePadders who keeps our message boards an increasingly active place to discuss all things Disney, or just how handsome you think John Corbett is.
Looking to the future, we have big plans. Concurrent with some new core software, we are planning a complete redesign of MousePlanet that we hope will ease navigation and bring to light many of the hidden information resources we provide. As always, we are looking for interesting new writers (such as relative newcomers Mark Goldhaber and Shoshana Lewin) to shed light on some specific Disney topic or comment on everything as a whole. In other words, we hope that over the next three years — as in the past three — we’ll continue to bring you all the news about all things Disney in a timely and consistent manner.
As for Disney itself, we here at MousePlanet are pleased to see Disneyland celebrating its 48th anniversary on an apparent high note. The recent renovation to Tom Sawyer Island is wonderful, Pirates of the Caribbean has inspired a very good movie (whereas the Country Bears were probably glad to be gone when their movie opened).
We look forward to seeing if Tower of Terror can vitalize Disney’s California Adventure. Whether Jay Rasulo can reintroduce vision to the parks in general. We hope to have someone on hand to cover the opening of the new Hong Kong park when that happens.
But most of all, we will continue to be amazed that somehow we’ve taken our hobby and turned it into something so much bigger.
For all of you who will be visiting Disneyland today to celebrate its 48th birthday, you are invited to also celebrate MousePlanet’s third. At noon, stop by the Partners statue in the hub where you can meet Adrienne Krock and other MousePlanet staff members as well as pick up a free MousePlanet or MousePad button.
It has been a great ride so far and I hope you all are enjoying it as much as we do.
Alex Stroup
