Do You Want To Know A Secret?

In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, there's a scene right before the song "I'm Wishing" where Snow turns to the forest animals and asks:

Do you want to know a secret?
Do you promise not to tell?
We are standing by a wishing well.

It is said that the first two lines inspired John Lennon of the Beatles when he penned, appropriately enough, "Do You Want to Know a Secret?"

Secrets are always so much fun. The person who has one is either proud to know something no one else knows or is afraid that someone will find out what their secret is. The person who is outside of the loop usually desperately wants to be included and jumps through hoops to find out what's being kept from them. If knowledge is power then secrets are power plays.

Two of Disney's worst-kept "secrets" were officially announced today. The news may have been a little more exciting if they really were new.

In case you haven't heard, Disney has given the go ahead to produce a sequel to the highly successful Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. What a surprise! Almost every story about Narnia in the press talked about how Disney was banking on turning this series of novels into a franchise, a la Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings. And with Disney's penchant for churning out sequels, a la the upcoming Bambi 2, the only surprise in this announcement may have been that Narnia's sequels aren't direct to video.

The second piece of news today was that Walt Disney World and Disneyland will both be incorporating an Audio-Animatronic Captain Jack Sparrow into their respective Pirates of the Caribbean attractions. This is what I would call Victor/Victoria Imagineering at its best - it's an attraction that became a movie that's being turned into an attraction. And it too is no surprise. We've had a discussion topic dedicated to the transmogrification of the ride on our forums since the beginning of December.

Even though both of these events were widely expected doesn't mean that the events themselves are not exciting. But it's a little like having unwrapped Christmas presents sitting under the tree. You might be happy with what you're receiving but it loses a little luster when it comes time to "open" presents.

I like secrets and spoilers and peeking behind the curtain. But wouldn't it have been cool to just show up at Disneyland one day and ride Pirates as always but have Jack Sparrow hanging around? Wouldn't it be neat to go to the theaters to watch a movie stand on its own rather than going in knowing that it's the first of a multipart series?

While the Internet is a great tool for sharing news and information with people around the world, it also plays the role of spoiler. Many discussion topics are labeled as containing information that is probably better left undiscovered but the temptation to open a Pandora's Box of tidbits and secrets is usually too much to resist. Winners of contests and awards are often announced in real time on the East Coast, much to the chagrin of those who won't experience the even for another three time-delayed hours. And the anonymity of the Internet allows for secrets to be shared by those in the know, who are busting at the seams to share their knowledge.

If you want to know a secret, there's a good chance someone has broken their promise not to tell. Just go online and read about it before it officially happens or is officially announced. But just to be clear, you didn't hear that from me!