Update: Tom’s Disney Book Club & Halloween
Just a quick housekeeping post for today as I’m going to be updating other posts. Although this site is a blog format, I’ve found that some older posts remain popular over time, so I try to keep things updated so as to not give bad advice. My organization system is poor (and that’s being charitable), so sometimes it can be difficult to find what needs updating, but I’ve identified several posts that need updates, so I’m going to be working on that over the next week or so.
You may have already noticed some older posts rise to (near) the top of the homepage as I’ve updated them. I’ll continue this trend, bumping things up to near the top, but not all the way up.
By the way, if you ever notice an older post contains stale information, by all means, leave a comment on the post saying so. WordPress has this fancy email notification system for comments, so I receive an email for any comment left on any post.
Okay, now on with the two main topics of this housekeeping update…
Halloween
Halloween season is now upon us at every Disney Park in the world, with the first Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party having been held last night. I’ll be talking to a friend who attended in a couple hours, and plan on doing some preliminary updates to our Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Tips post based on their feedback. (We’ll have much better, first-hand updates after we attend the party.)
As I stated in our Halloween 2015 at the Disney Parks update, we were heading to Disneyland for the opening day of Halloween Time at Disneyland, and thereafter I’d follow up with a post with photo updates last weekend. You might have noticed that I didn’t follow up with such a post…
We did rope drop Halloween Time at Disneyland (which has been dramatically scaled back this year), but I forgot my tripod, so I wasn’t able to get night photos like I wanted. Sorry! Rather than doing an incomplete post, I decided to wait–I think we might head back for some night shots later this week. Stay tuned…
Tom’s Disney Book Club
What young boy from the Midwest doesn’t dream of growing up to be the next Oprah? That’s a silly question–they all do, myself included. I’ve finally decided to take the leap and try to be the Disney fan blogger version of Oprah. Since I don’t have the resources to give you all cars (unless we’re talking about the Matchbox variety), I’ve decided to go a different route…
Despite being functionally illiterate, I’ve decided to start a book club! That’s the logo for Tom’s Disney Book Club above; pretty fancy and not at all egotistical, right? I announced this in the latest issue of the Distinctly Patriotic Disney Tourist Blog Newsletter. If you’re not subscribed, you really ought to rectify that right now by signing up here–some newsletter critics have hailed it as the defining newsletter of our generation.
Additionally, I shared that our first title would be Walt Disney: An American Original by Bob Thomas, with the club “meeting” this Sunday for the first time. The first meeting would also feature a review of “American Experience – Walt Disney” that premiered this week (spoiler alert: I really enjoyed the show).
Unfortunately, a couple of readers informed me that they ordered the book but received an email from Amazon that it wouldn’t arrive until September 23. (C’mon, Amazon!) I was further informed that every library in the country doesn’t have the book, contrary to my statement that they probably do. (Embarrassingly enough, the OC Public Libraries don’t even have it…C’mon, this is the land of Walt Disney and that’s his definitive biography!)
So, rather than doing this book club thing the impetuous and half-baked way like so many of my ideas, I’ve decided to take a step back and give this more thought. Some of you who want to participate won’t have the book by Sunday, and now that I think about it, that’s also rather short notice for others who might want to participate but have real world responsibilities.
Then there’s the issue of just what “participation” looks like. The comments section of a blog post? A Facebook group? Something else? I really have no idea as to the best way to go about something virtual like this…or if enough people are even interested in participating to justify putting in a ton of effort to make something new for it. I’ve always felt that forums are most conducive to actual back and forth group conversation, but I’ve resisted forums here in the past because there are like 3,943 Disney forums, and social media seems to be displacing them. (Most importantly, I have no clue how to set up forums.)
Given all of these considerations, I’ve decided to postpone the first ‘meeting’ of Tom’s Disney Book Club from this Sunday until Sunday, October 18. Quite the delay, I know, but I want to actually give this thing a chance to succeed…BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO MISS MY WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY TO BE THE NEXT OPRAH. (Albeit on a much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much smaller scale…maybe more like the “next Carrot Top’s second cousin.”)
If you have any feedback as to the best or your preferred means of participating in a virtual book club, please share in the comments. I’m also open to suggestions for future titles, as I think that if this becomes a running thing, the goal will be one book per month with a month lead time to allow for acquisition and reading of the book.
If you have friends who are literate and like Disney, please help spread the word about Tom’s Disney Book Club by sharing this post with your friends via the social media buttons on the above left side of the page. Thanks!
YOUR THOUGHTS…
Will you participate in Tom’s Disney Book Club? Any recommendations for it? Excited for Halloween season? Any posts you’ve found that need updating? Share your thoughts on these questions and anything else in the comments!
Love the book club idea, Tom. Also passed it along to some friends.
As far as format, the only thing I could think of here on DTB would be to make some of the better comments / coversation points their own posts, maybe as Part 2, Part 3, etc.
You could always just post your take and we could all respond to each other in the comment section. I hate to say it…but like reddit. No need to reinvent the wheel. Your comment box requires no sign up, is familiar to all who would participate in said club, and can be accessed from multiple platforms. It would seem to meet all the criteria. I look forward to this. It got me to post…twice.
Hi, long time reader but first time poster. Love the book club idea-especially since you selected one of my favorites! I’m excited to read again before October.
The only forum suggestion I’d throw out is Skype. I use it for work and it has several IM/chat functionalities that could work!
I am so excited about the idea of a book club! I have never been super into the existing forums, but would definitely get into one here for the book club. I worked at a bookstore for eight years and a library for four, so books and Disney, amazing. Alternatives besides a forum and not live chat, go old school and chat room? I’m not sure, but just looked and my local library network doesn’t have it, so I guess I have to buy it 😉
Love the book club idea and am stoked to participate! October 18th is perfect timing because I WILL BE IN DISNEYLAND! We get there on October 16th so I’ll have plenty of time on the plane to read the book, and then I’ll leave some comments/feedback after I get back from the parks that night. Can’t wait!
As a librarian, I LIVE FOR BOOKCLUBS! I got the book from where I work and will definitely be joining in. No preference on format 🙂
I actually just picked up a copy of this book at the Emporium a couple weeks ago. I’m enjoying it so far and would love to participate in a Disney book club!
I am all for this idea, I’ve been on a Disney book kick lately. I just finished DisneyWar a few weeks ago and before that Dream it, Do It. I was planning on reading Walt Disney An American Orignal soon anyway when you recommended it. This will be great because I want to read more Disney related stuff, but I never know what to choose because there’s so much out there.
Just ordered my copy of the book! I like the idea of a set time Live Chat and additional comments could be added after the fact. If there is no live chat then I don’t know if there is really a reason to have a scheduled meeting “date”. You could also do a review of the book and let people comment under similar to blog posts but I don’t feel like that is very interactive.
I would be interested in participating in a book club. You may be able to use some kind of software to facilitate the virtual meeting. Kind of like a conference call. Only give a few people the chance to talk at once. Whatever you decide books clubs are Greg and I’m in!!
Great* (typing on the train home is a struggle sometimes)
would LOVE a disney book club on Facebook. Twitter scares me. Please send me any info!
” If you have friends who are literate …”
This has me a little worried: Will we be marked off for spelling and punctuation?
You better believe it. I won’t lie: doing well in this book club is probably more important than any class you’ve taken anywhere else, ever. A “Certificate of Accomplishment” here is basically having dual degrees from Harvard and Yale.
(Of course spelling and punctuation don’t matter. I don’t proofread my own posts…do you really expect me to proofread yours?! 😉 )
I would love to participate in the book club, but you have no idea how relieved I am to know that punctuation, hopefully grammar, and spelling won’t count. I spell so badly that on my iphone, every time I type a word and it underlines, the response I get is “NO REPLACEMNTS FOUND!”
Hi Tom! It was so nice to meet you and Sara (in the line for Jack and Sally) last Friday! I am definitely interested in the book club. What about Google Hangouts? Not sure how many people can join, but that’s another avenue to explore. Thanks again for all you do here at DTB and for keeping the posts updated. Looking forward to more bloggy goodness!
Nice meeting you, too! 🙂
Tom,
love the idea for a book club, i think its the right move giving everyone who is interested enough to time to, acquire, read,and let life get in the way of reading the book. In terms of where to discuss, are there any live chat apps that are free to host it. i know go to meeting, is there a free version of ?
Thanks for the suggestion–I probably shouldn’t have used the word “meeting.” I don’t want this to be a traditional book club in the sense that those meet in person. I want “meeting” for the purposes here to just be going to a set location and conversing, but *not* in real time. Having a written dialogue via the comments, forums, etc., allows people to participate when they have time, rather than doing so by appointment, which reduces the number of people who could participate at any given moment.
I know this means sacrificing immediate feedback and actual spoken conversation, but I’m fine with that if it means more people can participate, and can take time to actually think about what they have to say/write…
Thanks for all the work you do on keeping your posts up to date. I LOVE your blog. Thanks for this post as I missed the first one with news of this new book club. I love this idea! I placed my order for the book and Amazon is showing an in stock date of Sept. 19th for me now. I also have the Walt Disney Experience on my DVR ready to watch tonight!
Tom, I love the Book Club idea! And I am totally on board. I have actually been wanting to read your first book choice for years, I purchased it and ended up letting a friend borrow it, then never got it back. So this is a good kick to finally read it!
I think a forum could work well, but you’re right, there are a TON. If you ever do end up with a forum and need mods, I happen to know a girl with two thumbs who would be happy to help.
I think for a group discussion, a forum or Facebook group would probably be best. I think it would be harder to keep up with on a blog as we cannot get emails when new comments are posted like we could with FB or a forum.
I have to say, I am a spotty reader of your blog. I love it, but just don’t have time to check every day! So I missed the first book club post. But I think that’s something my husband and I would probably enjoy, most certainly me. I don’t have any ideas for format either, but a few books I have read and enjoyed, off the top of my head: Disneywar by James Stewart, Realityland by David Koenig, Dream It, Do It! by Marty Sklar, and perhaps even Marty’s new book, One Little Spark. I haven’t finished it yet, so I can’t offer a full overview, but I am really enjoying his good and bad examples of the ten Disney commandments.
DisneyWar is high on the list of potential titles, and will definitely be an early one.
I haven’t read Sklar’s newest book yet, so I’ll have to check that out in the near future. I don’t want to do any title for the TDBC (so cool we already have an acronym! 😉 ) until I’ve read it at least once, as there are a lot of Disney books that I’ve found to be filled with too much puff and fluff, or flat out poorly written.
2nd for DisneyWar. But I do warn you some may find it a bit dry.
So glad you decided to postpone the first book club “meeting” — this will now give me plenty of time to both read the book and watch the American Experience documentary! As for format, the only venues I can think of that I prefer are blog comments and Twitter chats (definitely not forums!).
My biggest hesitation with anything Twitter or Facebook is that not everyone uses those platforms, whereas the comments here require no registration, etc. The downside to the comments here is that things get a bit muddy when you have too much back and forth.
So I commented before reading the whole post (I was really excited about the opportunity to dress up my cats apparently), but now that I have read it through, I have more thoughts.
I would definitely be down for a Disney book club. I think having a month to get and read the book is a good idea, since I primarily rely on Amazon for my book purchases and, as we have seen, it’s not always the most reliable for prompt delivery. I unfortunately don’t have any brilliant ideas for the format, but I do like the logo! That’s a good start, right?
Thanks for all of the info about Halloween at the parks. We are heading down to WDW on Saturday and are doing MNSSHP on Tuesday. It’s our second time doing the party and we are definitely looking forward to it.
So is the Chesire Cat costume a costume for your pet? If so, I really hope I win so that I can force it on at least one of my cats this Halloween.
Indeed it is! Dog size medium, new with tags (although it’s been tried on twice). Too big for a miniature dachshund and small-ish cat, but would probably fit a medium sized or larger cat just fine. 🙂
Fantastic! I have a mid-size and extra large cat, both of whom are definitely bigger than a dachshund, so they would probably fit in that just fine!