I was invited to ParksCon and said no for a looooot of reasons and there is a *lot* to unpack here. This was first mentioned to me back in October...

It was pitched as an online con where people shared park tips for the best day ever. I not only made a note that the timing alone was insensitive because it was immediately after the 28k layoffs were announced, but also that this content has already existed for years on YouTube.

I also let them know that this didn't really make sense given DL was closed and WDW was only barely open, so park tips in a pandemic didn't make sense and wouldn't even be valid anymore, or for a while.

I will preface this by saying I was into the Magical Masterclass idea because I’m always looking to hear from Imagineers, and the concept was focused on design. Retired Imagineers are also generally more candid when not speaking under a Disney banner, so seemed cool.

(that is definitely not what ParksCon is or was ever going to be- moving on)

Fast forward to a package that arrived in Feb with the most insane invitation I've ever seen.

The video was long, included a short interview with Tony, and explained the con. That it would be free, but through affiliate links I could get 50% commission on ticket sales/memberships. I sent an email with a LOT of questions. Many didn't get answered and I followed up.

I asked how do I even make sense for this? What am I contributing at all? What are the ticket prices? The prize for the most affiliate link sales got a trip to CA to have what was alluded to a dinner with Tony Baxter- asked about the safety of that during a pandemic.

The follow up didn't address the questions about screen recordings, where this was streaming, or how this was anything exclusive that didn't already exist on content creators websites, YouTubes, etc. Their follow up was when it got extremely interesting.

For one, the prices for lifetime access were alarming to say the least. $150-$200 to have lifetime access to watch videos from people who have already been posting and sharing park tips for years for free? Seems weird. Then came the speaker list.

Spokesmayne was listed and I couldn't respond fast enough that I would absolutely NEVER be billed with a known abuser. I was asked if I could provide any proof and if they found it valid, they would do something about it.

I also said the lack of women and BIPOC was incredibly disappointing. They said they tried, but no one responded and that most of them were white men because Walt hired other white men. And I agreed that I didn't expect a lot of diversity of retired Imagineers...

..but that bringing in content creators and members of the Disney community was an amazing opportunity to bring in these voices. I was asked if there were anymore problematic people they should remove. I was not, however, asked about who else they could/should invite.

This was March 10th as speakers were getting confirmed. It's only now being announced, so there were a few weeks to add more people.

To really round it out, I was told by them someone required a speaking fee (unprofessional to share that information with me) and I also know someone else that was invited who just had their address looked up and received an invite unsolicited. Creepy.

All in all, there was plenty of time to do *any* research to find people who better reflect the Disney community and they were made aware of it fairly early in the process. The priority I saw was removing problematic people, but not actually trying to open up this space...

...on top of making an event that actually doesn't make any sense, including paid tiers for information that is not exclusive, freely out there, and honestly out of date. I just...don't get it. It feels weird. Dear Tony, pls get out of there.