Disneyland and Disney World to launch official Disney theme park blog

The Disney theme parks will finally join the blogosphere today in an attempt to bring some of the rabid faithful currently chatting at unofficial fan websites under the corporate umbrella.

Check out the new blog at http://disneyparks.com/blog/.

The blog will be the official source for information about new rides and attractions, exclusive videos and photographs as well as in-depth coverage of events at Disney theme parks in the United States.

The blog will be managed by the in-house public relations team, with social media director Thomas Smith serving as the leading voice. Select employees at the company’s theme parks in Anaheim (Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure) and Orlando, Fla., (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom) will contribute to the blog.

Perhaps most interesting, the blog will allow moderated reader comments — a time-consuming and daunting task intended to keep the conversation “clean and on topic.”

Disney hopes the new blog steers some of the active and opinionated fan base from unofficial sites such as MiceAge, Mouse Planet and the Disney Blog.

Craig Dezern, who oversees the blog as vice president of public relations for Disney theme parks, said negative and critical comments about the parks and attractions will be permitted as long as the writer follows basic online etiquette (no profanity, flaming or off-topic rants).

“The comments section is not the cheering section,” Dezern said.

Although the blog will feature occasional posts on Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, for now it will focus on the U.S. parks, Dezern said.

Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the Los Angeles Times Funland blog: www.latimes.com/funland. Follow Funland on Twitter and Facebook.

– Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer

Photo credit: Disney

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 28, 2009 at 10:54 am by Brady MacDonald and is filed under California, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney's California Adventure, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disneyland, Epcot at Walt Disney World, Family & Kids, Florida, Magic Kingdom, Orange County, Southern States, Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.