Abstract
The public recognition and financial success of the Disney CD-ROM story titles prompted The Walt Disney Company to continue their expansion in digital and online environments. Continuing the synergistic strategy that had successfully moved it into new technologies in the past, the company looked to use the graphics capabilities introduced to the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s to expand its transmedia reach and create a virtual environment for its characters and stories. Disney.com, the company’s official website, was launched February 22, 1996 primarily to promote Disney’s theme parks and provide information on such company products as videos, books, and music to adults. Disney developers also took advantage of the site to give children a play space. Children could enjoy a different scavenger hunt each day as well as chat with Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse. The site joined with Family.com and through this venue provided parents advice and additional activities for their children.
We can’t bore the public with these things…. We’ve got to be entertaining. (Walt Disney) Online photos and graphics provide extra detail and are identified by urls the reader can refer to. This additional reference information will be particularly beneficial as an enhancement for the online version of this book. URLs are current at time of printing.
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Notes
- 1.
The 1996 Disney.com site brought information about the different Disney entertainment interests to the public in one space. Together with Family.com it was designed to provide a comprehensive resource for parents to go to for family-friendly activities. Photo of the 1996 Disney.com : http://web.archive.org/web/19961222215021/http://www/disney.com.
- 2.
Photo of the 1997 Family.com : http://web.archive.org/web/19971210192651/http://www.family.com.
- 3.
Mickey welcomed children to the new Disney’s Daily Blast site, and offered them a virtual world of play. Disney’s Blast had clear menu items and was easy for even very young children to navigate.
- 4.
Unlike Disney’s Daily Blast which was a complete site dedicated to children, Warner Bros . Kids was included as a category on Warner’s main menu. Photo of the Warner Bros portal: http://web.archive.org/web/19970131181521/www.kids.warnerbros.com/.
- 5.
Sites such as Chateau Meddybembs offered content that was limited to text and illustrations. Photo of Chateau Meddybemps : http://www.meddybemps.com/.
- 6.
PBS ’s site gave kids access to characters from favorite television programs such as Arthur, Barney, Dragon Tales, and Teletubies. Photo of PBS ’s site: http://web.archive.org/web/20000815053549/www.pbs.org/kids/.
- 7.
The Disney’s Daily Blast site required registration and the creation of a username and password before children could enter and play. Photo of the Disney’s Blast registration page: http://web.archive.org/web/20040711034319/register.go.com/disney/login.
- 8.
Favorite games such as Stitch: Master of Disguise survived Disney Blast’s change to Disney’s Game Kingdom Online , a game-oriented site. Stitch must find the items that will help disguise him from the bounty hunters! Photos of Stitch: Master of Disguise: http://www.pog.com/games/Stitch_Master_of_Disguise/; http://www.disneyfrontier.com/tag/games/.
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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
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Lee, N., Madej, K. (2012). Going Online: A Personal Theme Park. In: Disney Stories. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2101-6_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2101-6_11
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