Our official launch date was August 1st, 1999 — which makes today our 26th birthday! To celebrate, we're taking a trip down memory lane by showcasing our original logo and republishing the launch article I wrote all those years ago.

Fun fact: LaughingPlace.com actually began as a Disneyland-only “beta" version that debuted on April 1st, 1999. We used a different logo back then and officially made the switch on launch day.

Thank you to everyone who has created or read LaughingPlace.com — whether for one day or all 26 years.

Editor's Report: To All Who Come to this Happy Place - Welcome

by Doobie Moseley

August 1st, 1999

Welcome to the new LaughingPlace.com! Our editor has a few words for our longtime fans and our new readers.

Welcome to the new LaughingPlace.com. My name is Doobie and I'm the publisher of this site. The original LaughingPlace.com, concentrating on Disneyland only, debuted on April 1, 1999. In four months we had over 35,000 visits and over 120,000 hits site wide. Thank you very, very much to all our readers!

Today we debut the new LaughingPlace.com. For a complete rundown of the new features visit the Guide To This Site. In short, we've now expanded to cover all of Disney. We've added trivia contests, polls, columns and more features. And our website directory has over 1,000 Disney related sites and is steadily growing to contain every Disney related site we can find.

Every Monday I'll use this space to let you know what's coming up in the week ahead. This week we've got two features on the Haunted Mansion and a unique story of a first ride on Splash Mountain. Indigo and Rebekah have touching tales of trips to Disneyland. And don't forget to enter the trivia contest. This week's theme is Disney Beginnings and the winner will receive a great prize, the wonderful hardcover book "Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to Magic Kingdoms".

Note: Because we wanted to open with a big splash, we've made our trivia, poll and all columns available immediately. Normally everything will be updated on a regular schedule that you can read on the Guide To This Site.

Before I close, I need to thank everyone who has helped get this new site off the ground. Most importantly, my wife Rebekah without whom there would be no LaughingPlace.com. Not only for her direct contributions (which are numerous) but her support as well. I also want to thank John Frost, Kaszandra Liput, Dave Mastanich, Daniel Kaplan, Chris Peters, Richard Mastanich, Ken Pellman and Bob Barber.

Everyone here at LaughingPlace.com welcomes you and hopes you enjoy yourself here. And we need your feedback to make sure we continue to give you what you want. If at any time you have a question, comment, complaint, or praise, please send us Feedback. Our goal is to be your Number One source for Disney news, information and links.

-- Doobie Moseley (August 1, 1999)