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Opus1guy
02-21-2007, 05:06 PM
I've just scanned and Adobe Acrobat PDF'd an article on Club 33 that appeared in the August 1984 issue of Orange Coast Magazine.

This article was rather significant in the Club's history as its publication lead to a major change in Disneyland's and Club 33's policy regarding the "secrecy" of the Club.

It may be hard for younger readers to imagine, but back before the internet, very few people had ever heard of Club 33. There were even Disneyland Cast Members who had never heard of it. Club 33 guarded its privacy like Fort Knox. They preferred that most folks not even know it was there. "Secrecy" about the Club was the byword in those days.

Then this article appeared in Orange Coast Magazine. And mainly because Disneyland and the Club did not cooperate...the article was full of inaccuracies and misinformation. This misinformation along with the broad readership of the story, and then the continuing off shoots of inaccurate stories about the Club that suddenly started popping up in various media outlets all over the place...lead Disneyland and the Club to rethink their policy about secrecy.

So later when the Los Angeles Times told Disneyland that they were going to be doing their own extensive story on Club 33, Disneyland's Jack Lindquist decided this would be a good time to set the record straight. He invited the LA Times to Disneyland to interview him about Club 33, and also pay it a brief visit with a photographer to see first-hand what it was really about.

Still to this day, Club 33 likes to keep a low profile. And they rarely advertise the place. But they don't try to pretend they don't exist any longer, either.

Keep in mind when reading this that much of it is inaccurate...even some of the stuff told to the reporter by Disneyland at the time. I don't fault the author of the story. Anyone trying to do a story about Club 33 back in 1984 would have to rely on second-hand and foggy sources at best. And perhaps some speculation.

So here's the story. Hope you enjoy your deep, dark, and mysterious visit to "Uncle Walt's Inner Sanctum."

http://members.aol.com/opus1guy/uploads/33orangecoaststory84.pdf

When I come across the Los Angeles Times piece that came later and which was the historic first one that Disneyland did cooperate with...I'll scan and post that one too.

:)