Disney's big oops: Club Penguin domain name lapses

Disney was willing to pay up to $700 million for Club Penguin, but apparently forgot to renew its domain. Parents can't be happy.

If you go to Club Penguin---like my daughter did---you get an odd looking Network Solutions page. It's the page you get when you haven't renewed a domain name. The page has been down for a good chunk of the day. CBS News reported that Club Penguin returned about noon, but a lot of folks still can't get to the site. The outage has been widely reported on Club Penguin blogs such as the Club Penguin Insider.

"The domain name has expired, but has been restored, but everything is getting back to normal," said a Disney spokeswoman. Some players can't log on, but most of the service has been restored.

Disney's customer support line has been swamped with calls from parents and the company said it will review procedures to avoid this issue again. According to this lookup, Club Penguin's domain expired June 13. A week later, Disney's site is gone.

You'd think a company that spent $350 million in cash with an equal amount in potential earn-outs would at least mark its domain name calendars.