D23 Introduces Free Membership Level, Launches Expanded and Re-imagined Website
D23, the Walt Disney Company’s official fan club, has launched a greatly expanded and re-imagined website, with some 98% new content. Both Gold and Silver level members of D23 will be able to log in and access newly digitized content that delves into The Walt Disney Company’s vaults with depth and breadth never before available to the public. They will also have easy access to many current projects, along with exclusive glimpses of the future.
The site will continue to offer a basic level of access to anyone, with some content available to members only. A color-coded navigation bar, along with a distinctive logo will identify this content. Attempts to view this content will lead to offers to join D23 at the Gold level. However, D23 will offer a free membership level with full access for all who are willing to register on the site. The free registration process will initially take up to 24 hours to process.
According to Billy Stanek, communication specialist with Disney Corporate Creative Resources, the mission for the newly imagined site was five-fold:
- Evolve what fans like now;
- Get the rest of the Walt Disney Company involved;
- Make the site easier to use;
- Make more content of the Disney Archives available to fans;
- Add sister websites.
On the Monday, June 17 launch, there will be “sister” websites available: D23 Fan Club, D23 Expo, and the Disney Legends. For the first time, the Disney Archives will have its own website, as well. According to Stanek, in addition to the expanded content offered on June 17 over 150 new features are in various stages of production. Among the new columns in the members’ only area, visitors will find Disney A to Z. Entries already found in previous editions of the books will be added to and expanded. A to Z will also include a searchable database. At launch 7, 034 entries are promised, with more added on a regular basis. Another new section is Characters, a database profiling Disney characters from television, film and comics with concept art and complete biographies.
Ask A Legend is another new column. Visitors will be able to submit questions, and Disney Legends will answer them via video clips. 23 Questios will offer Once Upon A Time star Ginnifer Goodwin who reveals her Disney favorites—and what she’s looking forward to in the next season of the hit ABC show. Other columns include D’scovered (Disney Archive items recently brought to light), Born in the Funnies (a look at Disney characters that were created for print media), Quotable Walt Disney (a searchable database of quotes), Attraction Rewind (theme park attractions of the past), Muppetology (all things Muppet), Weird Disney (highlighting some of the more unusual items in Disney history), and Geek of the Week (a weekly visit with a different fan). The site will also offer First Look, which gives members a glimpse into what’s new and what’s next, as well as favorite Disney recipes, downloads, discounts and offers.
Content for the expanded website will bring together material from across the Walt Disney Company. Collections include not only the Archives, but the Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Imagineering, the Animation Resource Library, and Disney Consumer Products as well. With the third D23 Expo just around the corner, members and visitors alike will be able to spend time browsing Disney’s virtual domain in all its variety. The new D23 site promises not only expanded insights into Disney’s rich past, but look at the company’s future as well.
D23 official web site: http://d23.disney.go.com/
How the homepage of D23.com will appear before you have logged in. From D23.com.
Click here for a larger version of this picture
Once you have logged in to the website, the background changes to gold and you can access all the articles noted with the gold title and the golden key next to them. Members Only content on D23.com.
Click here for a larger version of this picture
The Walt Disney Archives brings collections and exhibits from across The Walt Disney Company together. From Walt Disney Archives.com.
Click here for a larger version of this picture
Archives offers such rare material as this storyboard from a lost Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short.
Click here for a larger version of this picture
Attraction Rewind will include such artifacts as this original model used in Disneyland’s Adventure Thru Inner Space.
Click here for a larger version of this picture
Television animation is also seen, as in this original art piece used to establish Duckburg from Duck Tales.
Click here for a larger version of this picture
The D23 Expo home offers complete information about the 2013 Expo, which promises to brings the entire world of Disney under one roof, providing attendees with unprecedented access to Disney films, television, and theme parks in Anaheim, California from August 9–11.
Click here for a larger version of this picture
Discuss It
-- Posted June 17, 2013
-- Story by Doug Marsh