In the span of just 48 hours, Disney forcefully denied two rumors about the Magic Kingdom that were first reported by WDW News Today, a popular fan site that often posts stories about changes reputedly coming to Disney parks.
The first dealt with the Enchanted Tiki Room, which the site said in a June 26 story would be replaced with a “Moana”-themed overlay, citing “sources inside the company.” That same day, Disney denied the rumor, claiming “our fans are being fed incorrect information by unscrupulous sources.”
…
Corless stepped up his criticism on the June 27 edition of the WDW News Tonight podcast.
“I think it’s clear, and I don’t think we need to mince words anymore, that WDWNT.com is absolutely, I would say, at war with the Walt Disney Company,” Corless said . “That is the way I would phrase it at this point. It has gotten personal and nasty and that comes from the top down,” going on to accuse Disney’s theme parks division of becoming “petty” under the leadership of Bob Chapek , the company’s chairman of Parks, Experiences and Products.
You should see his Twitter pages (personal and WDWNT). He was ranting about not getting invited to the SW:GE opening. Well he’s used up any goodwill now.
He even commented that in the past Disney would contact him privately if they had an issue with what he’d written. As if that’s a good thing. Clearly someone got fed up with the gentle approach not working and went for a more robust rebuttal.
I’ve seen his Twitter posts and have seen him referred to by other blogs. But, what is his background? I read somewhere he was an ex CM and has a beef with Disney but you never know how accurate anything is. Just curious if anyone has his story and how it got to this point?
The biggest beef I have with him is that he uses other people’s work as the “source” for his stories, without any credit whatsoever. And when he’s called out for it, he blocks them.
On occasion it’s been so blatant that he had no choice but to credit them, but only when they contacted him directly.
Most of the time though he’s putting things out that may have been discussed as part of a brain storm (you know, where every option is listed), but without any attempt to verify it. There are suggestions his Land and Seas demolition rumour was deliberately leaked to him, either to discredit him or to find the source of a leak.
As I have said numerous times, WDWNT is a notorious click-bait site. Corless publishes unvetted rumors as facts, posts other people’s info as if it’s his own (giving no credit to the original poster), and has no problem launching grenades at others, but as soon as someone calls him out it’s all “they’re not being fair” One highly respected WDW forum has banned links to the WDWTD website - you can’t even mention it without your post being “redacted”. It’s referred to, usually in a pejorative way, as “the site that shall not be named”.
Then in that case: good riddance. Stirring up rumors for clickbait I find to be one of the Internet’s worst features. I hope Disney goes a step farther and throws a libel suit at him.
(BTW, hhehehe “at war” implies both sides could win… heheh does anyone think WDWNT has a SHOT at getting out of this on top?)
I find this fascinating because I never knew that WDWNT had such a reputation. (I guess it is worth knowing!)
But, I see two types of rumor sites.
Those that just publish any and all rumors. That’s fine, if they are consistent about it. If they are literally just throwing everything out there that is talked about KNOWING that it is all “rumor mill”.
Then, there are rumor sites that make an attempt to legitimize rumors. These sites try to vet the rumors, find some kind of support for the claims, etc. These may be considered more “respected” because, I imagine, they are ultimately RIGHT more often.
Both types have their advantages and disadvantages. As long as it is clear which kind a rumor site is, I don’t have much issue with it.
I’ve only really been to WDWNT a handful of times, and in those cases it was more about reading details about something that HAS happened as opposed to what MIGHT happen. For the latter, I tend to rely heavily on Screamscape.
There’s a difference between reporting any old rumour and reporting it as fact though. Every time WDW denies a rumour they post, they claim that the idea has had to be scrapped because of the outcry when they posted it. They never admit that it was a load of rubbish.
I posted on chat and I will post here. I think of all of us here as part of the “Disney Community”. It breaks my heart when the community attacks each other- be it Tom Corless, Big Fat Panda, or the Trackers (people outside their house -really?)
Everyone knows I am a podcast junkie. Wdwnt podcast was my second podcast (wdwtoday was the first). I listened when he would promise “to do a better job” getting the podcast out (he was terrible at that). Over the years he has built his website and a number of podcasts. A few liners also worked on podcasts for him.
I have never heard of Corless working for Disney. He did work for the Theme Park Connection - I believe when he first moved to Florida?
I laugh at his click bait. I am confident after listening to this week’s ETicket Report that Chris Wakefield most likely is correct- Corless might be a dou***. I also believe that they are correct that most likely his source was set up. I personally think the blog had that response written and passed by legal way before Corless wrote his piece. They are just not that clever …
The one thing I know (not believe-know) is that Tom Corless loves Disney. He believes that people making decisions have never been in the parks. His example is the announcement at D23 about Mickey’s Runaway Train without any mention of the Great Movie Ride closing in weeks. I may not agree with how he does it or understand why he thinks it is his job to “expose” or stop them, but I have never doubted his love of Disney.
Clearly someone got fed up with the gentle approach not working and went for a more robust rebuttal.