Reporter's Notebook - Part One

First published July 27, 2004

By C. W. Oberleitner

Chuck Oberleitner checks in with continuing highlights from last week's NFFC The Club for Disneyana Enthusiasts "20 Years Keeping the Magic Alive" national convention.

Dateline Garden Grove, California

For twenty years the NFFC The Club for Disneyana Enthusiasts has been celebrating all forms of all things Disney. Throughout the year, the NFFC serves thousands of members at its 31 worldwide chapters through a variety of local and regional publications, meetings, seminars, auctions, shows, and sales.

Every year during the week of July 17, Disneyland's birthday, the NFFC has a national convention at a hotel near the park. This year, because July 17 fell on a Saturday, one of the convention's busiest days, the national convention was held from July 21 thru July 24 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Garden Grove. Sunday was the NFFC's annual "Strictly Disneyana Show and Sale" also held at the Crowne Plaza.

Always a “must do” event, for what one life-long Disney memorabilia collector referred to as "Disneyanamaniacs of the highest order," this year's national NFFC convention took place in front of a backdrop of not one but two Walt Disney Company dramas. The first, the continually unfolding saga of the initially underwhelming response to plans for Disneyland's 50^th Anniversary celebration, and the second, the ongoing shareholders’ revolt spearheaded by Roy E. Disney, Stanley Gold, and SaveDisney.com.

Over the past two decades, the NFFC national convention's roster of speakers, guest lecturers, and Legends honorees has read like a Who's Who of renowned magic makers from the past seventy years of Disney Company history. This year's speakers, at both the January kickoff convention and the July national convention, were as knowledgeable about Disney business as they were about Disney magic.

It's a World-Class Menagerie

Last December, shortly after being forced off the Disney board of directors, Roy Edward Disney contacted the organizers of the NFFC's kickoff convention. He asked if he might address the group's coming January 2004 convention to explain to a "friendly audience" what his new website SaveDisney.com was about and what he and his partner Stanley Gold hoped to accomplish at the coming Walt Disney Company shareholders' meeting.

Not to be out done, executives from the Walt Disney Company contacted the organizers of the NFFC's summer national convention and asked if they too might address the organization. This was ostensibly done to promote "The Happiest Homecomings on Earth," the worldwide celebration of Disneyland's 50^th Anniversary, before this very influential worldwide group of Disney enthusiasts.

Unlike Roy Disney, who simply addressed conventioneers on a sunny Saturday morning in January from the NFFC's stage, the Disney Company showed up in full force.

Making the nearly two-hour, one-way trip down to Garden Grove from Disney corporate headquarters in Burbank and Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale were:

Jay Rasulo, President of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Michael Mendenhall, Executive Vice President Global Marketing
Marty Sklar, Vice Chairman and Principal Creative Executive, WDI
Steve Davison, Creative Director, WDI.

They were joined by:

Becky Murphy, 2004 Disneyland Resort Ambassador to the World
Bill Rogers, the Voice of Disneyland
Martha Blanding, Disneyland Resort Merchandise
Barbara Roma-Cole, Disneyland Resort Merchandise
A half dozen Disneyland singers and dancers
Disneyland-costumed performers:
- Mickey Mouse
- Minnie Mouse
- Donald Duck
- Goofy
- Pluto
Stage managers
Audio and video technicians
A team of Disney corporate publicity managers and photographers
Disney corporate security
A cadre of managers and personal assistants

The Disney folks arrived the day before the convention started and brought in lighting, sound, video equipment, and confetti cannons. They took over the portion of the Crowne Plaza ballroom used by the NFFC for seminars and presentations and declared it a "Closed Set." Disney dressed the stage in its own corporate decor.

A Spoonful of Sugar

The opening NFFC convention session was titled, "Disneyland's 50^th Globally." Jay Rasulo, Michael Mendenhall, and Becky Murphy were the featured speakers.

Complete with live musical performances by the Disneyland singers and dancers, the presentation was a scaled-down version of the remarks and video presentations put on by the Disney Company at the 50th Anniversary kickoff event held last May in Disneyland. A complete videotape of that event was being broadcast by local cable TV provider, Aldephia, and was available to hotel guests throughout the area.

In addition to repeating the initial plans for "The Happiest Homecoming on Earth," Rasulo and company updated their presentation with news of the "Happiest Faces on Earth" program, now going on inside the park and at Disney.com. They also detailed the latest editions to Disneyland's portion of the worldwide celebration:

Visitors arriving at LAX and John Wayne airports will be greeted by 50th Anniversary celebratory banners.

Disneyland's Main Street and many of the park's walkways will be decorated with 50^th Anniversary banners and bunting.

No longer hidden, Golden Mickey's will spring up around the park on selected attractions.

Ride vehicles on many of the park's original attractions will be painted gold and made available for magical memories photo opportunities.

Concluding his remarks, Rasulo told his audience of approximately 250 that he understood what dedicated collectors they were. To that end he had a 50^th Anniversary cloisonné pin struck for them. The back of the very limited-edition pin bore both the mark of the Disney Company and that of the NFFC.

WDI's Steve Davison joined Rasulo and Mendenhall in the lobby of the grand ballroom, following the presentation, for an informal Q&A and photo op session.

Both Jay Rasulo and Mike Mendenhall said that they were unaware of any plans to refurbish or put back into service either Tomorrowland's Submarine Lagoon attraction or the former People Mover/Rocket Rods ride.

When asked if Walt Disney's private office—which was once on display in the lobby of Disneyland's Main Street Opera House along side the display of his public office—would be returned to Disneyland as part of the 50 Years of Disneyland historical exhibit planned for the Opera House, Jay Rasulo said he did not know and referred the question to WDI.

When Steve Davison was asked if Walt's private office would return to Disneyland he said, "Probably not."

Disney archivist Dave Smith, who designed the original tandem office exhibit, also agreed. "They (WDW) won't give it up. They like it too much down in Florida."

Davison, a favorite among NFFC members, was peppered by a series of questions from the conventioneers. He was asked how the folks in WDI felt about the generally unfavorable reactions to Disneyland's new fireworks show.

Davison said several of his co-workers came running into his office the day after the show debuted shouting, "Have you seen the Internet. They hate it.” He went on to say, "I told them I didn't need to look at the Internet. I told you guys they're gonna hate it. They loved "Believe" (the previous fireworks show) and we didn't give them a reason to love this show."

Davison went on to say that Disneyland's very popular "Believe In Holiday Magic" fireworks show should, "as far as I know," return to the park this holiday season.

He went on to reassure the crowd gathered around him that "Haunted Mansion Holiday" would be staying at Disneyland as long as the park wants it. "The guests love it. Tim (Burton) loves it. And, it generates a ton of business."

There will not, however, be a Walt Disney World version of the popular Haunted Mansion overlay. “They (WDW) didn't want it." Davison said. "So Tokyo's getting it instead."

Contrary to remarks appearing elsewhere on the Internet, Davison said that while they had looked into several ways to fly a live or animatronic Tinkerbelle "down Main Street, in front of and around the castle," they just couldn't find one that worked. Instead Tink will follow the same flight path she has, but with some exciting new "movements."

I've an Amusing Little Social Item

There is much more to tell about this year's NFFC national convention. So much so that it will have to be talked about in a second article. Before concluding, however, here's a brief story that got me into very deep trouble with one Disney executive.

After the Disney brass returned to Burbank and Glendale, the NFFC national convention resumed normal operations. The remaining seminars and presentations featured Disney authors, artists, and Imagineers some formerly with the company and others still working for the Mouse. During one presentation, a popular, jocular Disney creative executive, known for his witty, entertaining presentations, slipped the following statement into his remarks:

"If you're going to be in Disneyland around the middle of August, you might want to hang around the submarine (lagoon) dock. You may hear something about a certain little fish."

A murmur of excitement went up in the room. Several people called out for more details, but the speaker just smiled and declined to comment further. Following the presentation, I went up to this man, introduced myself as a journalist from JHM.com—as was my agreement with the NFFC—smiled, and asked if I should keep my calendar open around the middle of August for a Disneyland media event.

In less than a nanosecond, the smile disappeared from his face and was instantly replaced by a stern almost angry expression. It felt as though the temperature in his immediate vicinity had dropped fifty degrees.

"Those remarks were not for publication!" he barked at me. "They were strictly for the people in this room and no one else!"

Before I could point out to him that many the convention attendees didn't realize this, and that lots of them had Internet access in their rooms and were already posting information to discussion boards, he turned and stormed away from me.

I can't tell you if this bizarre incident means the long rumored "Finding Nemo" remake of Disneyland's Submarine Lagoon attraction will take place or not. I can tell you that it's noteworthy that the Disney Company put this much time and money into seeing that roughly 250 very influential Disney fans were so thoroughly briefed on the still evolving plans for Disneyland's 50^th Anniversary.

Like the man said, let's hang around the submarine lagoon dock in August and see what, if anything, happens.

C'ya real soon!