doctornick
Well-Known Member
You wouldn't have thought that was possible given his (their?) online persona, but some people constantly amaze...
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News Expose reveals WDC control in online fan community
- Thread starter tirian
- Start date
You wouldn't have thought that was possible given his (their?) online persona, but some people constantly amaze...
CastAStone
5th gate? Just build a new resort Bob.
Me, a week ago: “I’m gonna join WDWMagic to see if I can learn anything interesting about what’s happening next with Dinoland”
Me, today:
Me, today:
asianway
Well-Known Member
He has just entered the fray. And to my knowledge he hasn’t ever been on a media list except the Carsland Opening much to the chagrin of Orlando PR
bartholomr4
Well-Known Member
Love it....
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
I'm not convinced that you and I aren't the same person.
MouseBrayden
Well-Known Member
You act as though we were conned into being here. Everyone here has some level of fan interest in Disney and wants nothing more than to see what we think to be the best future for the parks come to fruition. If Disney is taking our opinions to heart and using them as feedback for future projects, ISN'T THAT EXACTLY WHAT WE WANT?!
VJ
Well-Known Member
yeah, but i'd still like a free mickey bar...You act as though we were conned into being here. Everyone here has some level of fan interest in Disney and wants nothing more than to see what we think to be the best future for the parks come to fruition. If Disney is taking our opinions to heart and using them as feedback for future projects, ISN'T THAT EXACTLY WHAT WE WANT?!
EricsBiscuit
Well-Known Member
doctornick
Well-Known Member
I'm sure TWDC PR arm will indeed be following this and coming up with a response, if needed. Because y'know they are a huge media company who thrives on a wholesome family image.
And honestly I have no doubt that Iger and Zenia and Chapek and the lot of them are probably "not good" people and willing to do gray area stuff to get the results they want. And if that means throwing someone under the bus for something, eh.
But what I do think is truly pathetic is when a member of a billionaire media family goes out of his way to act all high and mighty in trying to criticize and condemn Iger while himself being a condescending jerk in his "anonymous" online persona. It's kind of a "the lady doth protest too much" situation.
matt9112
Well-Known Member
Its as close to free speech about twdc your ever going to get. As an American knowing i have very different views from many members here i will however stand by this forum as the premier outlet period. No coddled curated nicetys here.
doctornick
Well-Known Member
You act as though we were conned into being here. Everyone here has some level of fan interest in Disney and wants nothing more than to see what we think to be the best future for the parks come to fruition. If Disney is taking our opinions to heart and using them as feedback for future projects, ISN'T THAT EXACTLY WHAT WE WANT?!
Seriously. I wish they were using this board as a focus group.
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Atomicmickey
Well-Known Member
I know this is the TOP DRAMA, but after reading this and twitter for hours, I went and read the “Al Lutz” article on Micechat and it is fantastic.D23 just became an “E” ticket. Wheels within wheels....here’s hoping this leads to good.
durangojim
Well-Known Member
Has anyone else noticed that “Gary Snyder” rearranged is “End Synergy”?
matt9112
Well-Known Member
Can one of the ridiculously wealthy board members bring us a popcorn cart with the cm to man it....theres not enough popcorn for this thread.
Smiley/OCD
Well-Known Member
Yeah, where's Buzzy and who's Katiebug?
hpyhnt 1000
Well-Known Member
FWIW, TP posted this over in the Disneyland forum:
I have been posting online for almost 25 years, and I have seen some weird and bizarre conspiracy theories about Disney theme parks in that time, but today was a day I'll remember for the rest of my life. I hate to dampen the excitement and drama, and there is still legitimate excitement and drama in this story even without me, but I can tell you that almost all of what was said about me in that article is either false or wildly inaccurate.
My mind boggles about how I even got dragged into this in the first place, but after being an online presence for 25 years with probably millions of words and tens of thousands of posts to my name TP2000 across all number of Disneyland fan websites, I guess it shouldn't be as surprising as it was.
I briefly considered going the full Monty here this afternoon, and publishing my name and address and as much biographical material as I could on myself to protect the innocent. But then I had to dial that back after realizing the crazy world we live in, and that might not end well when some deranged Bob Iger fanboi ends up on my front lawn.
Again, how I got dragged into this as not only an alleged Disney employee but a double-agent ghostwriter for Disney corporate and Al Lutz of all people I don't know, and may never know. I have reached out to the editors at Micechat this afternoon, but as of this writing I have not heard back from them. They are obviously as confused as I am, so I'll give them some time.
One of the most annoying things in that article for me is probably the most innocuous to all of you, but I need to get it off my chest first before the juicier stuff. The claim that I am a Log Cabin Republican. Yes, I am gay, but men in my generation were taught to keep that hidden and I don't wear that fact of life on my sleeve. I think I've only mentioned it here on this website a few times in the last 15 years, when it was notable to the topic at hand. Yes, I believe in personal liberty, limited federal government (the states tend to do it better!) and limited taxation. My posts over the years in the Politics forum of this board attest to that. But I have been registered as Decline To State for decades, across several states, and have never been to a Log Cabin Republican meeting nor given a dime to that organization. I am as anti-political party as much as I am anti-denominational when it comes to religion; neither a specific political party nor a specific church gets my financial or personal support. But I do vote, and I pray. Okay, I vote more often than I pray.
As for the rest of it? I don't even know where to start.
Thanks to some very kind people here who private messaged me and gave me some additional information, I have pieced the following together...
Apparently the article was written as a collaboration between a former poster on this site, and the ex-husband of the owner of Micechat. The ex-husband apparently was involved in a very messy and painful divorce with the current Micechat owner. That kind of explains some of it, and yet much of it is still just weird and bizarre. I am not Al Lutz's ghostwriter. I met Al Lutz one time and only briefly in a Noon Hub meet around 1996 to 1998 (I can't remember the exact year), during the alt.disney.disneyland days. At that same meet @Darkbeer1 was also there, but I doubt he'd remember me. I have not been back to a Noon meet in the Hub since that one time, although I understand that concept continued via several different websites at least into the early 2010's. I saw Mr. Lutz in the park once or twice during that same timeframe, late 90's to early 00's, but never approached him or spoke to him. I have not seen Mr. Lutz in the park since then, and I thought he had passed away a few years ago when he was in fact just quietly battling his Parkinson's disease. I have no other connection to Mr. Lutz, aside from being a big fan of his writing since the late 1990's.
I am not a man named Troy Porter. As some of my longtime friends here know, I chose my TP2000 handle on the Usenet forum as "Theme Park 2000", which back in 1996 seemed very modern and referred to theme parks, not a man's initials. I haven't changed my username since then, across several websites and decades, because I was just too lazy to come up with something new for the new century and my friends on the next website would need to know I was the same person.
I have never worked for the Walt Disney Company. Although I have known people who worked for the Walt Disney Company, specifically the Disneyland Resort. I have never met Zenia Mucha. I don't even know how you're supposed to pronounce that name. I was never a secret agent being paid by Ms. Mucha's office to be Al Lutz's ghostwriter. I re-read the Medium article several times, it's very sloppily written, but I still can't figure out what Ms. Mucha was supposed to gain by convincing Al Lutz to have a corporate ghostwriter with the title Corporate Liason for Imagineering & Operations. If that is Mr. Porter's job at Disney, it has nothing to do with me or anyone I know. I find it a bit hard to believe that a big company like Disney would be that clumsy with its approach to private media, but that's just me.
That I was dragged into this at all, much less to such a salacious and dramatic extent, makes me laugh hysterically. I just laughed and laughed, then stared at the screen with my mouth wide open in amazement, and then laughed more. Seriously, this whole day has given me some of the biggest laughs I've had in years! And also so many nice little notes from so many nice posters here, thank you all for sending me those thoughts and info!
For the record, no one from that Medium article reached out to me before it was published, nor has anyone from that article reached out to me since it was published this morning. I just got thrown in there for some reason that I still can't quite figure out although a few theories have been sent my way via private message here today. It's all very cloak and dagger and just a tad too weird for me, however. I just don't have the patience for that level of drama. Still funny though!
And what does Al Lutz get out of this? He's been writing for decades, and we are supposed to believe he was just a figurehead who had no typing skills? That his columns and opinions were all being written by this Corporate Liason in Burbank? And now Mr. Lutz is suffering from Parkinson's and they claim his entire online career was a lie and a fabrication? That's just a bit too weird for me to believe. If someone has a theory on that, please share it here. Is it really as simple as a messy gay divorce gone into hyper-***** mode via a sloppy Medium article? Even that seems a bit weird and unbelievable. We'll probably be discussing the conspiracy theories on this one for years.
I could comment on some other minor trifles with that article, but I think I'll just stop for now and enjoy the rest of my martini. I'm sorry I don't have more fuel for this fire, but hopefully what I shared helps a bit? A few private messages today were afraid I was going to disappear over this, but since I've done nothing wrong I have no intention of leaving this message board over this because it's all just so stupid and wildly inaccurate and hilariously funny. So why would I leave? My part in this bizarre saga is merely a 25 year long online presence, and I wish you could all be here to laugh with me over this and toast to the weird world the Internet delivers!
So for you my friends I offer this heartfelt toast of appreciation... Here's to Al Lutz and his writing skills, Zenia Mucha the puppetmaster, Troy Porter and his Corporate Liason gig, and here's to never giving a dime to the Log Cabin Republicans! Cheers!
Astro Blaster
Well-Known Member
Yes this is all pretty crazy and I’m not totally sure what the big takeaway is...really all I want to do is grab a Mickey premium bar, hit up space mountain, and just be happyYou act as though we were conned into being here. Everyone here has some level of fan interest in Disney and wants nothing more than to see what we think to be the best future for the parks come to fruition. If Disney is taking our opinions to heart and using them as feedback for future projects, ISN'T THAT EXACTLY WHAT WE WANT?!
doctornick
Well-Known Member
The irony is, as entertaining as this all is, and how sad stuff is when you "look behind the curtain"... when it comes down to, I don't really care about any of this. I guess I'm cynical, but I don't give a crap about who is manipulating who. What I do care about is having quality entertainment in the parks (and movies, TV, etc).
If all of this results in Chapek going and whoever replaces him (and ultimately Iger really) as being more park friendly and willing to go the extra mile and plus the parks as much as possible - that's what I want. And if they use some bloggers as shills to get there, I wouldn't care.
If all of this results in Chapek going and whoever replaces him (and ultimately Iger really) as being more park friendly and willing to go the extra mile and plus the parks as much as possible - that's what I want. And if they use some bloggers as shills to get there, I wouldn't care.