PC Magazine Blog — Harness Your Inner Fairy with Disney Clickables

Nicole Price Fasig

June 18, 2008 — As demonstrated at Disney's holiday preview event yesterday, there's been a real push toward creating "virtual worlds" for kids. One of the company's first, and most successful, is Disney Fairies, a tie-in with their soon-to-be-released, direct-to-DVD series. On the site you can create your own fairy (You can see mine, Ella Hollymist, after the jump!). According to Disney, the ranks of the fairies are more than 6 million strong worldwide, though all you can do for now is explore the virtual world and play some basic online games.

That's about to change with the introduction of Clickables and Pixie Hollow, Disney's newest virtual world, still in beta testing. Once Pixie Hollow launches, Disney Fairies members will be able to migrate their avatars to the new site and make friends via its social networking applications. Of course, this will be carefully monitored for safety by humans and computers. For instance, our demonstrator attempted to type a naughty word into the site's chat application, and was immediately rebuffed. Our pixie friends are going to make sure we keep it PG in their world.

Clickables are Disney's attempt to link physical products with the digital platform. Clickables Fairy Friendship Bracelets are stylishly oversized charm bracelets that come in a variety of colors. By touching the tops of the bracelets together, the wearers can "friend" each other. Once the bracelets are touched to their home base jewelry box that information will be relayed to the site. The accompanying charms unlock virtual gifts for your fairy, like a new hat or pair of shoes. Plus, you can give gifts to your friends, again by touching the charm to the top of their bracelet. The last accessory Disney is rolling out is a handheld Clickable Fairy Game. Points you earn on-the-go can be converted to "Tink Points" online. (Tink Points, in turn, can be redeemed in the form of your very own virtual animal friend.)

General access to the site will be free, though some more advanced games and functions will require a subscription. The accessories will range in price from $5.99 to $29.99. Clickables should be available at major retailers in October.

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