So in my attempt to celebrate the New Year at Disneyland, I was promptly given this notice when pulling into the parking structure at the resort:

Disneyland is closed

So, we all ended up at California Adventure instead, but it ended up being one of the best New Years I’ve ever had! I went with a friend from work and her family. Unfortunately, my girlfriend was not able to make it, but I still had fun. I couldn’t take many pictures or videos because all I had with me was my iPhone and it was way too dark, but I managed to catch the countdown and a minute or so after midnight.

Here’s the vid:

I happened by Disneyland today between a split shift of mine and came upon the taping of Disney’s Christmas show for ABC. The musical performance was done by Stevie Wonder. I didn’t get in very close because I didn’t even know what was happening until right before he came out on stage to start the taping.

At any rate, I captured just about five minutes of the opening. I couldn’t stay long because I had to go back to work, but if you want to watch the part I captured (from a distance), check it out now:

I haven’t posted in a while because I’ve been sooo busy, but I thought I’d drop in to say that tomorrow, I’ll be getting my first experience at Club 33!! I should have plenty of pics and hopefully a great story or two by the end of tomorrow night!!

So I’m at Disneyland last night and my friend somehow got a pin asking this very question and also listed the website: http://www.disney.com/23

When you access the website, it shows nothing but a coutdown to March 10th, 2009 which is the day all this will be sorted out. Trust me when I say we asked around to find out some “insider” information and got nothing! It looks like this time, even the cast members are in the dark. Anyway, so after doing some research online, I’ve found that a lot of other people are discussing this very topic and decided to share some of the thoughts of others in regards to this new Disney mystery. NOTE: These are opinions, rumors and/or half-truths from people all over the internet. Take them with a grain of salt.

1. Walt Disney Studios was founded in 1923
2. Disney Adventures is coming out with 23 new itineraries for their vacation packages
3. There are 23 Disney films slated for Blu Ray release from the Disney Vault
4. 2+3=5 — There are currently 4 Disney parks and the announcement could bring about a fifth
5. There could be a new “fan club” (possibly called Dis-23) that caters to long-term fans of the parks which would offer special events, discounts, collectible items and more for an annual fee.
6. The movie “Song of The South” was last released to video in 1986 (23 years ago) and could be getting a long-awaited release to dvd and/or Blu Ray.
7. “I Work at the Disney Store and I asked a fellow manager if he had any idea what it was about….Then he made a call and just like tht he found out that it has to do with the environment. Disney Is Promoting something to do with it.” [sic] -Anonymous web blogger
8. Since the questions is “Are you 23?”, it would likely have to be related to someone being the 23rd something: maybe the 23rd guest through the gates each day whens a prize, the 23rd person to ride a ride, etc.

March 10th is supposedly the shareholders meeting, so it will likely be announce then. Whatever it is, it sure sounds interesting and the marketing plan is working. We don’t have much longer to wait. Stay tuned for the update on that day.

It looks like my original thought (number 1) was correct. Disney 23 (or formally: D23) is a new fan club of sorts that caters to huge fans on Disney by giving them inside peeks, company information and other things of interest. And the name is simple derived from the fact that the Walt Disney studios were founded in 1923.

Further reading: I found a really detailed article concerning the ins and outs of this membership, which currently costs $74.99 and I was lucky enough to find it before I hit the submit button at the DisneyShopping store! Steve Russo breaks it all down for us over at MousePlanet.