No more Mouse Fest?

[Mackflava99]

I heard mouse Fest is cancelled for 2009?
There was a communication sent out this weekend. My parents have a travel agency and hear about it.
I feel there is something else behind this-
Either disney doesnt want it ( which i doubt)
or no one wants to take ownership of it
OR there is something not being communicated.....
But this is such a wonderful event, i cannot see why-
Did it get out of hand?

What an unmagical thing...
Any insight ?

[Figment!]

The the MouseFest Committee released a press release* that stated the unofficial event would be going on hiatus for 2009 due to the loss of the committee's Chairperson and no short term replacement possibility.

According to the release, there has not been a determination made as to the long term future of the event.

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*Despite calling their statement a "press release" the committee has requested that the statement not be republished on other sites.

[JPL]

Here is the link to the Official Press Release on the Mousefest Site. Click Here (http://mousefest.org/)

It seems Dave Marx has stepped aside as Chairperson so it is taking at least a 1 year hiatus. However they are encouraging groups to continue with their events.

[wendy*darling]

MouseFest has grown every year- and is now a HUGE undertaking- lots of coordination, etc. And it's not a paid position.
Dave has just stepped down- too much work on top of a business and family.

If someone else steps in to run the massive event- that'll be great.

2009 was to be the first time I could actually attend! So, I am disappointed. :( But I so completely understand how much work this was and how he needed to step away.

All the different online communities are still free to hold meets and events if they want. So let's see what transpires this year.

Disney did nothing to discourage the event.

[JPL]

Linda

I was planning on attending again this year as well it's always a great time in the parks. I hope it's only gone for a year. It was a great excuse to go for the holiday festivities ;) Maybe if we get enough interest we can have a few Intercot Meets around that time to keep the spirit alive until it returns.

[Mackflava99]

Ok thanks for clearing it up- i was worried that there was something more. I can see where Dave had his hands full !!

[John]

Having been involved a few times, here's my take... Dave and Deb were driving forces behind this event and did a fantastic job. Deb last year reduced her role a bit, and then Dave stepped down. The combination of those two items, along with the fact that it has become tougher to run an event that has grown this big from a financial and time standpoint, and the downturn of the economy lead to the perfect storm - and the decision to at least take a year off. Dave did a pretty thankless job of putting the whole event together (I wouldn't want it) and I can't imagine almost any individual wanting to step into his shoes at this point. It's either going to have to be a group effort (which rarely works well), or like the release said, almost a full time job.

I think the future of the event as is was is probably dim. It almost needs to be re-thought from the ground up because of the size of it all.

Sometimes getting big doesn't always work out for the best - which is a shame. I for one really appreciated the amount of effort and planning it took to pull this off and thank Dave and Deb for their hard work over the years to bring disney fans together.

[pixiesmimi]

Okay, I may be way behind the times, but what is MouseFest?

[Beast_fanatic]

Mousefest is/was a gathering of Disney fans from various Disney vacation planning web-sites with organized meets by those web-sites held both on the Disney Cruise and at WDW in early December.

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

I was lucky enough to attend in 2005 and only participated in a few of the meets, as well as going on the cruise. It was a lot of fun. I hope it can come together again so others can experience the fun of meeting all the webmasters and everyone who takes the time to put together sites like this where we can all go to for our Disney fixes.
Thanks for all your hard work Dave & Deb and everyone else who put in such hard work so that we could enjoy ourselves.