Mouse Tales author and MousePlanet staff writer David Koenig answers letters in response to his most recent column about the Hidden Treasures of Disneyland. Scott Gallawa writes:
You mentioned in your current column that the Monorail pilots only admit one party into the cabin, no matter how small. My parents, son, and I were at Disneyland in June, and were allowed to join a couple in the pilot’s cabin. Perhaps we were just lucky, but it suggests the policy is flexible.
Thanks, Scott! Your gain!
Kerry Rutkin writes:
I always enjoy your writings. You may know this, but at Club 33, you actually don’t have to pay to “rent” the Club. It comes with the cost of paying for all the meals. That is a pretty good deal. You pay for the food, and the Club and admissions come along at no extra charge. I have been to a number of parties there, and people are always surprised that there is no extra cost for the room.
Thanks, Kerry!
Courtney McDaniel writes:
I thought that I would share with you how we got a chance to go into Club 33 for lunch on our last trip to Disneyland. The day after the Pirates 2 premiere (for which we spent 15 hours on the red carpet, but that is another story entirely) we were in line to get into the park and we began conversing with a lady who was behind us in line.
In the course of our conversation, we were expressing our disgust with the callous manner with which the so called “fans” of Pirates movies had treated the park. As some of the last people out of the park that night we had a chance to see how bad it was. The place was a shambles. There were water bottles littering the street, candy, gum wrappers, and so on, everywhere. This nice lady commented that she was impressed that we seemed to care so much about the park.
We have gone each year for the past four, and plan to make it a yearly adventure for us. Anyway, she had a badge in her pocket that she pulled out and showed us. It had a big 33 emblazoned on it. She was a member of the Club! She was so impressed by our love of the park, that she took our cell phone number, and made arrangements for us to have lunch there a couple of days later. She even called in some favors, and comp’d us another day pass to Disneyland! It really can pay off to show your colors as a true fan of Disneyland. By the way, the food was excellent!
Congratulations! I never imagined camping in one spot at Disneyland for 15 hours and then loudly complaining about everything could get you into Club 33!
Courtney replies to David:
I guess I wasn’t complaining loudly, but we were expressing our disgust with how people treated such a magical and wonderful place. The nice lady who got us in to Club 33 agreed with us on how poor other people treated the park. I will say that by the time we entered the park the day after the premiere, the place was immaculate, and there was no sign of the mess that we saw the night before. It just shows that the crews that work at night in the park really know how to clean things up so that most people never see the park like we did that night. Like I said, the only thing that I complained about was how people treated the park during such a great event as the Pirates premiere. We are planning a return trip for the next premiere, if we ever find out when it is going to happen. I just hope that people treat the park with more respect next time.
Thanks again for your response… we love reading your articles.
Melissa Greenhalgh writes:
I am 26 years old and live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I think I owe my love and appreciation of Disneyland partly to you (the other part to Walt). It was my fourth visit to the park, in 1998, when a cast member recommended I pick up Mouse Tales. Your book opened up a whole new side of Disneyland to me and sparked an interest. From there the love of the park and what makes it magical grew. I am now on my 15th visit (end of November!).
Trips are few and far between, but I must thank you very much for making the park so much more interesting for me. I have shared your books with others and passed on the addiction. Thanks for taking the time to research and write your books. Remember the gentleman you wrote about who lost his wallet on Space Mountain and it was found later cut in half? That is my best friend’s husband’s uncle. I was telling the story during a car ride and he piped up “That was my uncle!” He didn’t believe me that you wrote about it in your book, so I had to give it to him to read. Small world, eh?
The Hidden Treasures article is a nice touch. I am looking forward to the chance to see a Jungle Map. I have heard others talk about them and I hope I can obtain one if I meet a kind CM. A Jungle Map, a Club 33 visit and a Tour are the three “to do” items left for my trips. I am going on the Walk in Walt’s footsteps tour during this trip, and I am really looking forward to learning new tidbits about the park.
Anyhow, I just mostly wanted to say thank you for your articles and your books. They are something I go back to every couple of years. In fact, it’s a good time to start rereading one tonight!
Thanks, Melissa!
Kevin Krock, editor of the Home Theater column, responds to reactions to his Cars DVD review. Brian writes:
Not sure if you saw this or not. Target and Wal-Mart are selling the Cars DVD with a bonus disc. Each of the two discs has different bonus material. So if you want all of the available bonus material, you will have to buy the movie from both stores. This makes me think there maybe more bonus discs out there at other retailers that I don’t know about. Like you said, hopefully they will combine all of them onto a collectors disc some time in the future.
And, also regarding the bonus material, Bill writes:
I have not even physically picked up the Cars DVD yet because, like you, I know when I do I will buy it. It will probably be a stocking-stuffer for my son. That being said, I have an alternate theory on why the DVD turned out like it did: greed. Think of it. Who will want to buy Cars on DVD again when it comes out in 10 years after going into the ‘Disney Vault’ without something new to add to the deal? Could it be that things were held back for just such a reason? It is the same reason I have not bought any of the last three Star Wars on DVD or the original trilogy collection. I know in a few years, George Lucas will release another ‘ultimate’ edition with all six in it and that will be the one to have. None of this may be true… but it is at least plausible.
Thanks guys for taking the time to write. I was not aware of the companion disc sets until I was shopping at Target after I had submitted the article, and I have to admit that when I saw it, I was pretty steamed. I know that there is all kinds of marketing dollars behind “exclusive” sales gimmicks like this, but this is ridiculous. At Target, the movie alone cost about $20, and the “Target Exclusive Rev’d Up DVD Disc” edition, with a companion DVD with 40 minutes of bonus material, was about $23 or so. I’m guessing the WalMart version is similar, but I don’t shop there.
If Brian is correct, then this situation is utterly asinine because a true “collector” is not going to run to two different stores and spend almost $50 picking up two identical versions of the movie just to get two bonus discs that probably have significant overlapping featurettes, no commentary, no art galleries, and so on and so forth. I would much rather have paid $30 up front for a true collector’s edition with one disc containing the movie, commentary, alternate sound effect-only track, animated shorts, etc. and a second disc with all the “making of” featurettes, still galleries, 3D models, and on and on.
As a Pixar fan, a loyal Disney DVD consumer, and a general DVD consumer, this whole exclusive bonus-disc marketing stuff just frosts my butt and really makes me feel jerked around. This is not what I want as a “bonus disc”-buying customer. This is not what collectors are looking for. This is not what DVD is all about. This is a load of crap.
For the sake of research—and that is about the only reason I was willing to drop the $23 on this—I picked up the Target set. You get nine featurettes that last just under 40 minutes. They include:
- Behind the Wheel (12:17)
- Dinner At The Big Texan (3:21)
- Life-Size McQueen And Sally (2:59)
- Day In The Life Of A Producer (3:11)
- Meet Pixar’s Gear Heads (2:41)
- Hot Laps In Sonoma (3:19)
- Talkin’ Cars (2:23)
- Worldwide Cars (3:36)
- Cars Alter Egos (3:34)
They are all exactly what I would expect to be in a portion of a true collector’s edition. They are funny, insightful, and contribute to an overall appreciation for the main feature and the folks that created it. The featurettes are all clearly produced with the intent of being part of a larger-scale collection of goodies, buy why that was not just compiled and released in the first place just baffles me to no end! Why just give us a few more featurettes on an “exclusive” companion DVD without any of the other stuff we have come to expect from a Pixar DVD? Come on, the trailers are still not included!
As for Bill, yes, I am certain money is the prime motivator in many of these decisions, and unfortunately for many of us, that means we may not get what we want because it would impact the bottom line a bit too much. Heaven forbid that Disney use some of the profit from Pirates of the Caribbean 2 to plus-up the Cars DVD. Nope. They need to squeeze everything they can out of every title. As you stated, Disney is not the only studio yanking consumers around with multiple versions of DVDs released over time with incremental bonus increases. From the business side, it makes sense because the studios know that most people will buy a new version for whatever extra stuff they include. From the consumer side, though, as I already said, it is a load of crap, and I do not like feeling nickel-and-dimed to death for bonus material that is spread over time, multiple releases, or multiple store “exclusives.” Unfortunately, this is something we have had to put up with before and will have to live with in the future.
It just makes me sad and angry that Pixar had established such a stunning track record of amazing, personal, and enjoyable DVD releases only to have the Cars DVD release hacked and chopped into its current limping, economically efficient state rather than what probably could have been an outstanding collector’s edition DVD. We will all just have to sit tight and see where this goes, but I deeply, deeply hope that John and the gang at Pixar know that there are a bunch of us, including my 8- and 5-year-old sons, anxiously waiting to get the rest of the story behind Cars.
